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Updated: May 6, 2026

Imaging of Intracellular ATP in Organotypic Tissue Slices of the Mouse Brain using the FRET-based Sensor ATeam1.03YEMK
Published on: December 19, 2019
Extraction and quantification of adenosine triphosphate in mammalian tissues and cells
1Division of Enzyme Chemistry, Institute for Enzyme Research, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
Abstract:
Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) is the "energy currency" of organisms and plays central roles in bioenergetics, whereby its level is used to evaluate cell viability, proliferation, death, and energy transmission. In this chapter, we describe an improved and efficient method for extraction of ATP from tissues and cells using phenol-based reagents. The chaotropic extraction reagents reported so far co-precipitate ATP with insoluble proteins during extraction and with salts during neutralization. In comparison, the phenol-based reagents extract ATP well without the risks of co-precipitation. The extracted ATP can be quantified by the luciferase assay or high-performance liquid chromatography.
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