The Use of Baker’s Yeast in the Resazurin Reduction Test: A Simple, Low-Cost Method for Determining Cell Viability in Proliferation and Cytotoxicity Assays

Cell viability assays require expensive commercial testing kits and sophisticated cell culture techniques. Thus, a laboratory activity for testing the cellular proliferative and cytotoxic effects of certain substances using baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in resazurin reduction test (RRT) was developed. This activity is based on the fact that a laboratory-prepared resazurin has identical effects to a resazurin-based commercial kits and that S. cerevisiae is an established model system for eukaryotic organisms. Here, a complete procedure based on optimized conditions was described in detail, from preparation of test materials and solutions up to the gathering and analysis of data. This laboratory activity provides a simple and cheap alternative to conventional cell viability assays and is therefore recommended for use in institutions with limited budget for the acquisition of materials for instruction purposes.