Gernot Jundt coauthored a 2002 investigation of misleading signals in the MTT assay.[ref]
Interference of plant extracts, phytoestrogens and antioxidants with the MTT tetrazolium assay by Regina Bruggisser and others. 2002, byline
His scientific contribution in this collaboration concerned the validity of a commonly used readout of cell viability, rather than a claim that every increase in dye formation represented cell proliferation.The study compared MTT-dependent formazan formation with crystal violet staining as a separate assessment of cell number.[ref]
Interference of plant extracts, phytoestrogens and antioxidants with the MTT tetrazolium assay by Regina Bruggisser and others. Abstract, comparison of the two measurements
These measurements need not answer the same biological question: cellular dye conversion can change even when the number of retained cells does not.In an original example, a culture falls from 100 to 80 viable cells, while average dye conversion per viable cell rises from 1 to 1.5 arbitrary units. Total signal rises from 100 to 120 units despite a 20 percent decline in viable cell number. This model needs no direct chemical interference at all. Together with compound-only controls, independent counting helps distinguish a change in cell number from a change in signal per cell. Neither readout alone identifies the cause of cell death.
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