Patent ID: 8609361

Claim:
An in vitro electrophysiological procedure to evaluate, in living neural cells, a neuroprotective capacity of an agent of interest in treating amyloid-type diseases, or a neurotoxic capacity of the agent, in real time, wherein the procedure comprises the following steps: a) Providing a living cell culture comprising living neural cells; b) Generating a seal between plasma membranes of the living neural cells and a patch clamp pipette, conserving a bi-layer integrity; c) Exposing the plasma membranes of the neural cells to the agent of interest in treating amyloid diseases, the agent contained in the patch clamp pipette; d) Measuring electrophysiological parameters related to plasma membrane integrity wherein results of the measuring are related to formation or non-formation of elemental pores in membranes, and wherein the measuring is carried out in the range of from −40 to −75 pA, after exposing the membrane to said agent of interest; and e) Recording the electrophysiological parameters related to the integrity of the membrane.