Patent ID: 7749730

Claim:
A high throughput screening assay for identifying TRPM5 ion channel specific enhancers comprising: (a) determining an optimal and suboptimal concentration of an agent that increases intracellular calcium concentration in a cell, wherein the optimal concentration fully activates and the suboptimal concentration does not fully activate the TRPM5 ion channel; (b) contacting a cell expressing TRPM5 with a suboptimal concentration of an agent that increases intracellular calcium concentration, wherein the cell has been preloaded with a membrane potential fluorescent dye; (c) contacting the cell in step (b) with a potential enhancing compound; (d) using an optical detector, measuring the fluorescent intensity of the cell in step (b) in the presence of said potential enhancing compound; and (e) comparing the measured fluorescent intensity in step (d) to the fluorescent intensity of a different cell expressing TRPM5 in the presence of an optimal concentration of the agent from step (a), wherein a TRPM5 enhancer is a compound that increases TRPM5 activity in the cell in the presence of the suboptimal concentration of step (b).