Xf 24 Analyzer

The sensor cartridge briefly creates a microchamber above the cultured cells, concentrating local changes that occur during measurement. Its sensors detect shifts in oxygen and proton concentrations within that confined space. Those signals are reported as oxygen consumption rate and extracellular acidification rate, allowing metabolism to be followed over time rather than inferred from a single endpoint.

Comparing oxygen consumption rate with extracellular acidification rate helps separate two broad aspects of cellular energy use. Oxygen consumption reflects mitochondrial respiration, whereas extracellular acidification reports proton changes associated with glycolytic activity. Examining both signals together can show whether a treatment or substrate changes respiratory metabolism, glycolytic metabolism, or the balance between them.

Real-time measurements make it possible to examine how cells respond dynamically to added substrates, inhibitors, or other treatments. Instead of observing only the final state, investigators can track changes in respiration and acidification as experimental conditions vary. This supports comparisons among conditions and can reveal whether an intervention shifts cellular energy use toward or away from particular metabolic activities.

An experiment uses cultured cells distributed across the analyzer’s wells, with measurements collected in as many as 24 wells during the run. The sensor cartridge is positioned to form temporary microchambers above the cells, then oxygen and proton changes are recorded as rate-based outputs. This format enables parallel comparison of multiple cell conditions, substrates, inhibitors, or treatments.

Biology researchers can apply the analyzer to questions about mitochondrial function, cancer metabolism, immune-cell activation, and metabolic disease. In each case, the paired rate measurements provide a way to examine cellular energy use while cells remain alive. The approach is especially useful when the research question concerns how metabolism changes in response to a treatment or other experimental condition.

In drug-effect studies, the key outcome is not simply whether cells change, but which metabolic activity changes with them. A treatment can be evaluated through its effects on oxygen consumption, extracellular acidification, or both. That distinction helps biology researchers characterize metabolic responses in cancer, immune, and disease-related models without reducing the analysis to a single measure of cellular activity.