Cell-Based Fluorescence Assay for Selectivity Evaluation between Two Na⁺ Channel Subtypes

Sodium voltage gated ion channels are expressed in central neurons. Certain subtypes have been implicated in different forms of epilepsy and as such, have been targets in the development of anti-epileptic drugs. Very few methods are available to study voltage gated ion channels in high throughput which has impaired drug discovery for epilepsy. This application note describes a fluorescence method, scalable in high throughput, based on the use of SBFI dye in the Hamamatsu FDSS6000 screening system.