Measurement of cell growth by a rapid U.V. spectrophotometric method.

A spectrophotometric method for measuring mammalian cell growth in culture is described. The attached cells were solubilized in 2N sodium hydroxide and the absorption was measured at 225 nm. The technique is sensitive to about 3000 cells per Petri dish and a linear relationship was obtained between the number of cells and the absorption at this wave length. The method is rapid and the solubilized material can be recovered for liquid scintillation counting when needed.