Patent ID: 7087374

Claim:
A method for assessing the potential of a compound to function as an anti-arrhythmic agent comprising: (a) providing an isolated cell transfected with a recombinant mutant Nav1 sodium channel protein; (b) measuring a first plateau current in said cell; (c) exposing said cell to a test compound; (d) measuring a second plateau current in said cell; and (e) comparing said first and second currents whereby a lower second current indicates that said test compound is a potential anti-arrhythmic agent; said mutant sodium channel protein having an amino acid sequence in which one or more amino acids among the ten amino acids occurring at the carboxy end of the S6 segments of D1, D2, D3 or D4 domains of a mammalian Nav1 protein differs from the amino acid in wild-type Nav1 by substitution with tryptophan, phenylalanine, tyrosine or cysteine, wherein said mutant sodium channel protein gives rise to sodium channels exhibiting plateau currents of greater than 1 nanoamp.