Cardiac Safety Assessment Assay Services

The cardiac safety assessment assays are available for preclinical evaluation of the safety of compounds to identify toxic drugs potentially inducing fatal cardiac tachyarrhythmia.

Ion channels are a diverse class of membrane proteins that play important roles in physiology. Aberrant activities of ion channels induced by the activity of pharmacological agents may be linked to several disease conditions. The inhibition of cardiac ion channels can be linked to the generation of life-threatening arrhythmias. Therefore, it is important to screen compounds against these ion channels to assess potential cardiac liability.

Testing options include:

• In vitro assay to determine binding of a compound to hERG
• Patch clamp to measure blockage of ion channels in cells
• Tissue-based action potential recording using isolated Purkinje fibers
• Organ-based ECG recording using Langendorff preparations