A cell-based bar code reader for high-throughput screening of ion channel-ligand interactions

This paper presents a microfluidics-patch clamp platform for performing high-throughput screening and rapid characterization of weak-affinity ion channel-ligand interactions. This platform integrates a microfluidic chip consisting of multiple channels entering an open volume with standard patch clamp equipment. The microfluidic chip is placed on a motorized scanning stage and the method relies on the ability to scan rapidly, on the order of milliseconds, a patch-clamped cell across discrete zones of different solutions created in the open volume. Under ideal conditions, this method has the capacity to obtain kinetically resolved patch clamp measurements and dose-response curves of up to 10(3) ligand solutions in a single day.