Application of electrophysiological technique in toxicological study: from manual to automated patch-clamp recording

Ion channels are common targets of a range of environmental substances, including pharmaceuticals, toxins, metals and many organic pollutants. Patch-clamp technique is gold standard in studying ion channel characteristics, contributing to the improved accuracy in active compound identification, the increasing studies of molecular mechanism behind diseases, and the better prediction of potential toxicants. Nevertheless, low throughput and high technical capability requirement limit the application of conventional manual patch-clamp recording and an emerging transformation towards automation and simplification is rising. The evolving automated patch-clamp technique shows obvious advances over manual technique in many aspects, including reproducibility, throughput, operability and standardization. The application of emerging automated patch-clamp platform has created valuable consequences in many research areas, especially in high throughput screening. In this study, we provided an overview on the progresses made by conventional manual and emerging automated patch-clamp techniques in toxicological studies.