25
%
0.8333
25
%
0.8333
The Plating Efficiency Calculator determines the percentage of seeded cells that form colonies and calculates the surviving fraction relative to untreated controls. Plating efficiency (PE) is a fundamental measurement in clonogenic (colony-forming) assays, which assess the ability of single cells to grow into colonies. This assay is the gold standard for measuring cell reproductive viability after treatment with radiation, drugs, or other agents.
The surviving fraction (SF) normalizes treated PE against control PE, isolating the treatment effect from inherent plating differences.
The formulas are:
A colony is typically defined as a cluster of at least 50 cells (about 5-6 doublings). PE varies widely by cell type: primary cells often have PE of 1-10%, while established cell lines can reach 50-90%. SF is always relative to the untreated control and ranges from 0 to 1.
Inputs
Results
The control has 30% PE. When this is also the PE_control value, the surviving fraction is 1.0 (baseline).
Inputs
Results
After 2 Gy radiation, PE dropped to 17.5%, giving a surviving fraction of 0.58. About 42% of reproductive capacity was lost.
A clonogenic assay tests the ability of individual cells to proliferate indefinitely and form colonies. It measures reproductive cell death, making it the gold standard for radiation biology and drug sensitivity testing. Cells are seeded at low density, treated, incubated for 1-3 weeks, then stained and counted. Only cells retaining full proliferative capacity form visible colonies.
A colony is conventionally defined as a cluster of at least 50 cells, representing approximately 5-6 population doublings from a single progenitor cell. Smaller clusters indicate cells that survived initially but lost reproductive capacity. Automated colony counters or manual counting with a microscope are used, and consistent criteria must be applied across all samples.
PE depends on cell line characteristics (growth rate, attachment ability, serum dependence), culture conditions (media, serum lot, substrate), and seeding density. Primary cells have low PE because many cells senesce or differentiate. Established cancer cell lines have higher PE due to immortalization. Optimizing culture conditions and using feeder layers can improve PE.
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