Patent ID: 8071318

Claim:
A method of screening a plurality of drug candidate compounds against a target ion channel comprising: expressing said target ion channel in a population of host cells; placing a plurality of said host cells into each of a plurality of sample wells; adding a candidate drug compound to at least one of said plurality of sample wells; affecting the target ion channel by modulating a transmembrane potential of said host cells in said at least one well with an application of a series of electric field pulses applied with extracellular electrodes extending down into said at least one well so as to set said transmembrane potential to a level suitable for a specific ion channel activation state or transition between states, wherein the frequency of the electric field pulses (f) is within the range Ï„ M âˆ’1 â‰¦fâ‰¦Ï„ b âˆ’1 where Ï„ M is a time constant for decay of transmembrane potential changes, and Ï„ b is an average target ion channel open time, wherein the pulses at said frequency cause a sustained transmembrane potential change via a stepwise accumulation or loss of ions over the course of said series of pulses; and detecting transmembrane potential characteristics of said plurality of cells over an area of observation in said at least one well to detect an effect of said candidate drug compound on said target ion channel.