Patent ID: 9012153
Filing Date: 2015-04-21
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of evaluating or screening to identify an agent that suppresses olfactory sensitivity, comprising (a) adding a test substance to a substrate having a voltage-dependent cation channel and determining if the substance inhibits an electrical activity caused by the voltage-dependent cation channel, wherein the substrate is an isolated olfactory receptor cell, a cultured olfactory receptor cell, or an olfactory cell membrane, wherein the electrical activity that is inhibited is the current or voltage caused by opening the channel, and wherein the electrical activity is measured using a patch-clamp, fluorescence, emission or image measurement method, (b) conducting an olfactory masking test in which smell is used to evaluate whether the test substance masks the odor of a malodorous substance, and (c) evaluating or selecting a substance that both as an agent that suppresses olfactory sensitivity, wherein the electrical activity is not activity of the CNG channel.