Patent ID: 6737242
Filing Date: 2004-05-18
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
A method for screening compounds for hypnotic activity, comprising:a) determining EC50 and in vitro efficacy of each compound at an &agr;2&bgr;3&ggr;2 GABAA subtype receptor or an &agr;3&bgr;3&ggr;2 GABAA subtype receptor; b) determining in vitro efficacy of each compound at a GABAA receptor comprised of an &agr;1 or &agr;5 subunit; and c) selecting a compound having an EC50 determined in a) of less than 200 nM, an in vitro efficacy determined in a) of greater than 10% for said &agr;2&bgr;3&ggr;2 GABAA subtype receptor or greater than 50% for said &agr;3&bgr;3&ggr;2 GABAA subtype receptor; and an in vitro efficacy value determined in b) of less than 50% for the GABAA receptor comprised of an &agr;1 subunit or less than 45% for the GABAA receptor comprised of an &agr;5 subunit.