Cell Electrophysiology

Based in San Diego, California, our in vitro cell electrophysiology platform focuses on services with cell recordings (human iPSC-derived neurons, primary rodent neurons, and DRG sensory neurons from rodent/canine/non human primates), building on over 17 years of experience globally with Neuroservices-Alliance in providing pharmacological assays.

These cell electrophysiology services support decision making in CNS or PAIN drug discovery research programs.

Expertise in CNS & PNS cell electrophysiology

Our cell electrophysiology experts have extensive experience in patch clamp and calcium imaging, allowing the determination of molecular effects on neurons and neuronal networks:

Cloned channels and receptors
Primary neurons (rodent brain)
DRG sensory neurons (cyno, nhp, rabbit) (more information)
iPSC-derived neurons from human donors (healthy or patients)

We can implement protocols tailored to establishing pharmacology, target engagement, Mechanism(s) of Action, and safety issues.

Our cell electrophysiology platform also proposes electrophysiological characterization services of iPSC-derived neurons (proprietary or commercial cell lines).

Pharmacology & Therapeutic Areas

Supporting clients working in therapeutic areas such as:

Pain
Neurodegenerative Disease
Epilepsy

Example target classes we cover:

Ligand-gated ion channels
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs)
Voltage-gated ion channels

Example drug targets we cover:

TRPV1
NaV 1.7/1.8/1.9
GABA
Serotonergic receptors (e.g., 5-HT2C)

Our techniques & models

Patch Clamp

Neuroservices-Alliance is a world-renowned leader in patch clamp electrophysiology. Patch Clamp allows in vitro evaluation of compounds under the most physiologically relevant conditions.

Calcium imaging

Calcium imaging provides insight into dynamic changes in calcium levels inside individual neurons. We use ratiometric calcium imaging techniques to focus on validated neurons in co-culture environments.

High Density Multi Electrode Array (HD-MEA)

Thanks to our partnership with Maxwell Biosystems, we use the MaxTwo 6-well High Density MEA recording system. These techniques evaluate features such as global/burst firing as measures of neuronal activity across individual neurons as well as the broader network.

One-Pager

Download our one-pager summarizing our cell electrophysiology solutions for CNS and Pain drug discovery.

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NHP DRG Sensory Neurons

"Pharmacology of TTX-resistant and TTX-sensitive sodium currents in Non Human Primate Dordal Root Ganglia neurons."

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Rodent DRG Sensory Neurons

"Profiling the Functional Phenotype of Dorsal Root Ganglia Sensory Neurons from the K/BxN Murine Rheumatoid Arthritis Model"

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Human iPSC-derived sensory neurons

"Functional endpoints from human iPSC-derived sensory neurons for pain drug discovery"
Poster presented at ISSCR 2021

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HD MEA Poster

"High density MEA recording of primary rat neuron cultures and human iPSC-derived neuron cultures growing at low density on astrocyte feeder layers" Presented at Maxwell Biosystems Neuronal Summit in 2023

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