Polydopamine and dopamine interfere with tetrazolium-based cytotoxicity assays and produce exaggerated cytocompatibility inferences

Polydopamine (PDA) and dopamine (DA) can spontaneously reduce MTT reagent to formazan, resulting in incorrect cell-viability inferences. The non-redox Trypan Blue exclusion assay provides a more reliable estimate of cell viability with PDA and DA.