A Cell-Based Bar Code Reader for High-Throughput Screening of Ion Channel−Ligand Interactions

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper presents a microfluidics-patch clamp platform for performing high-throughput screening and rapid characterization of weak-affinity ion channel−ligand interactions. This platform integrates a microfluidic chip consisting of multiple channels entering an open volume with standard patch clamp equipment. The microfluidic chip is placed on a motorized scanning stage and the method relies on the ability to scan rapidly, on the order of milliseconds, a patch-clamped cell across discrete zones of different solutions created in the open volume. Under ideal conditions, this method has the capacity to obtain kinetically resolved patch clamp measurements and dose−response curves of up to 103 ligand solutions in a single day.