Inter- and intra-assay reproducibility of microplate Alamar blue assay results for isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, streptomycin, ciprofloxacin, and capreomycin drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The intersample and intrasample variability of the results obtained with the microplate Alamar blue assay for the indirect drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was investigated. Between 1.2 and 8.5% of paired MICs differed by more than one twofold dilution, resulting in discordant susceptible-resistant designations at frequencies between 0.6% (rifampin) and 18.9% (ethambutol).