Are there test kits or other fast standard assays for monitoring ”macrophage fitness” in vitro? I would like to do infection assays (on plates). Beside CFU counts of the bacteria I would like to have an idea of the fitness of the macrophages. We usually check the macrophages by microscopy , however another more quantitive approach would be preferable.

Thanks

I am not sure what you would consider to be fitness, but many activity-related assays are a bit more involved and I would think that the presence of bacteria would skew results.

The simplest I can think off the top of my head are live/dead stains just to make sure that the macrophages are still alive, but I am not sure whether that is what you have in mind.