title: Micro- and nano-technologies for lipid bilayer-based ion-channel functional assays.
abstract: Ion channel proteins provide gated pores that allow ions to passively flow across cell membranes. Owing to their crucial roles in regulating transmembrane ion flow, ion channel proteins have attracted the attention of pharmaceutical investigators as drug targets for use in the studies of both therapeutics and side effects. In this review, we discuss the current technologies that are used in the formation of ion channel-integrated bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) in microfabricated devices as a potential platform for next-generation drug screening systems. Advances in BLM fabrication methodology have allowed the preparation of BLMs in sophisticated formats, such as microfluidic, automated, and/or array systems, which can be combined with channel current recordings. A much more critical step is the integration of the target channels into BLMs. Current technologies for the functional reconstitution of ion channel proteins are presented and discussed. Finally, the remaining issues of the BLM-based methods for recording ion channel activities and their potential applications as drug screening systems are discussed.
authors.affiliation: CREST (Japan) Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan.|Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirano-Iwata
authors.affiliation: CREST (Japan) Science and Technology Agency (JST), 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama, 332-0012, Japan.|Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishinari
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.|Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8578, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.|Laboratory for Nanoelectronics and Spintronics, Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, 6-6 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan.
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niwano
mesh_terms: D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D007477:Ions / Q000378:metabolism; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D007477:Ions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes
keywords: bilayer lipid membrane; channel current; channel integration; ion channel; microfabricaiton