Alessandro Cerchiara - My first time with the Patchliner

Ion channels play key roles in several tissues, especially in skeletal muscle. Efficient and reliable pre-clinical tests are pivotal to characterize biophysical properties of tissues and find novel drugs for diseases caused by ion channels mutations (e.g., NaV1.4 for myotonia, NaV1.7 for erythromelalgia). Automatic patch-clamp could be a successful and pivotal tool for reproducible and efficient screening of different drugs, such as antimyotonic/analgesic agents.

Our aim was to use the Patchliner to assess the channel isoform selectivity of mexiletine-like compounds, as well as study the electrophysiological asset of immortalized human skeletal muscle cells (SkMc) from healthy donors (WT). Briefly my first time with Patchliner allowed me to rapidly advance with the pharmacological characterization of mexiletine and its analogue on different NaV channel types of interest for therapeutic and/or side effects and, for the first time, to record ion currents from myocytes, confirming Patchliner as an outstanding tool for academic research.
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