Automated patch-clamping in basic research and drug discovery
Conventional patch clamping measurements are carried out on cells that
are immobilized by adhesion to a substrate. It is a cell-by-cell assay
that is slow due to the multiple-stage operation sequence that is manually
handled by a well-skilled operator.
Opposite to this is the need of today’s drug discovery for accelerated
ion channel screening. Therefore, at present, strong efforts are undertaken
to make this technique applicable for higher throughput screening of ion
channel targets and pharmaceutical substances acting on them. The most
common approach underlying the developments for automation, miniaturization,
and parallel execution of the patch clamp technique is the replacement
of the patch pipette by a microstructured planar substrate containing
microopenings for mechanical and electrical cell contacting.
This approach is based on the idea to reverse the conventional method:
Note the pipette is brought to immobilized cells but suspended cells to
a fixed contact opening. This requires attracting cells to a certain position
as, for example, by suction or electrical fields, and contacting them
with a microstructure suitable for seal formation and for enabling a stable
intracellular access.
Stett A., Burkhardt C., Weber U., van Stiphout P., Knott T (2003). Cytocentering: A novel technique enabling automated cell-by-cell patch clamping with the CytopatchTM chip. Receptors and Channels, 9(1):59-66
Patch-Clamp Automat
- CytoPatch for automated whole-cell recordings of ligand- and voltage-gated
ion-channel curents
www.cytocentrics.com - Reviews on current state of the art in automated patch-clamping:
Comley, J. (2003). Patchers versus Screeners - divergent opinion on high throughput electro-physiology. Drug Discovery World, 4 (47-57).Wang, X., & Li, M. (2003). Automated Electrophysiology: High Throughput of Art. ASSAY and Drug Development Technologies, 1 (5), 695-708.
