ICR 8000 Ion Channel Reader

 Aurora’s ICR series instruments combine atomic absorption spectroscopy with a patented microsampling process to accurately measure ion flux in cell-based assays for ion channel and transporter screening. The ICR 8000 is compact enough for the benchtop and displays broad utility: it can be applied to both voltage-gated (e.g., hERG, Kv1.1, Nav1.5) and ligand-gated (e.g., KATP, nAChR) channels, as well as to ion pumps and transporters (e.g., Na+/K+-ATPase), allowing researchers to accelerate drug development for the treatment and prevention of diseases associated with these key membrane transport proteins.

Current applications include the evaluation of the Cation-Chloride Cotransporter (CCC), a critical component of neuronal chloride homeostasis that is an essential regulator of cell volume and neuronal excitability. Because CCCs are electrically neutral, their activity cannot be measured using automated patch clamp techniques. The ICR 8000 is able to obtain high throughput activity measurements for these and other transporters by measuring the absolute concentrations of cytosolic and extracellular ions, a technique that is independent of, and complementary to, methods that rely on voltage manipulation