Opaque-walled 96- or 384-well tissue culture plates are available as white or black with solid bottoms and white or black with clear bottoms. The clear bottom plates offer the advantage of being able to examine the cells by microscopy during the course of the experiment. The primary difference between white and black plates is their reflective properties. White plates reflect light and will maximize light output signal; black plates absorb light and reduce background and crosstalk. For these reasons, white plates are commonly used for luminescent assays and black plates are used for fluorescent assays. When multiplexing a luminescent and fluorescent assay, the use of a white plate would support maximum light output signal for the luminescent portion of the assay, but result in higher crosstalk and background for fluorescence. The use of a black plate in a multiplex assay would reduce fluorescent signal crosstalk and background with a reduction in luminescence.
If you are looking for specific plates to use, suggestions for 96-well plates are listed below:
White Plates, Solid Bottom
- Corning Costar® plate (Cat.# 3917)
- Greiner Bio-One CELLSTAR plate (Cat.# 655073)
White Plates, Clear Bottom
- BD Biosciences Optilux™ plate (Cat.# 353947)
- Corning Costar® plate (Cat.# 3903)
- Greiner Bio-One CELLSTAR plate (Cat.# 655088)
Black plates, Solid Bottom
- Corning Costar® plate (Cat.# 3916)
- Greiner Bio-One CELLSTAR plate (Cat.# 655079)
- Nunc™ F96 MicroWell™ Plate (Cat.# 137101)
Black plates, Clear Bottom
- Corning Costar® plate (Cat.# 3904)
- Greiner Bio-One CELLSTAR plate (Cat.# 655087)