Formazan
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Formazan dyes are artificial chromogenic substrates for dehydrogenases and reductases. They include MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-dihphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) (used in the MTT assay), and the more water soluble XTT (23-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide). When reduced in a cell, either enzymatically or through direct reaction with NADH or NADPH MTT turns bright blue and may form an insoluble precipitate.
These formazan dyes are commonly used in cell proliferation and toxicity assays like the EpiSkin test since they only stain living cells.
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