Transporter Assays

Molecular Devices offers two assay kits for researchers studying transporter targets in pharmaceutical research: Neurotransmitter Transporter Uptake Assay Kit and QBT™ Fatty Acid Uptake Assay Kit. Both assay kits are homogeneous, no wash, live-cell fluorescent assays amenable to automation and high throughput screening.

Neurotransmitter transporters have become important pharmaceutical targets, as they play a key role in depression and neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. With the introduction of the Neurotransmitter Transporter Uptake Assay, researchers now have a tool to screen for live-cell kinetic uptake for three key neurotransmitters, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine, in a homogeneous, fluorescence-based, high-throughput format.

Fatty acids are utilized for diverse cellular processes including mitochondria oxidation, membrane synthesis and energy storage. Pathologically increased intracellular fatty acid concentrations can cause cellular apoptosis and have been linked to insulin desensitization, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, understanding the Fatty Acid Transport Proteins (FATPs) that regulate entry of fatty acids into the cell is of great importance in biomedical research and drug discovery. The QBT™ Fatty Acid Uptake Assay is a single-step homogeneous fluorescent assay that provides real-time uptake kinetics and is ideally suited for high throughput screening applications in both 96-well and 384-well formats.

Conventional methods for studying both types of transporter require the use of radioactivity or cumbersome fluorescence protocols requiring low-throughput fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) or washes that harm the cells. Both the QBT™ Fatty Acid Uptake and Neurotransmitter Transporter Uptake Assay Kits eliminate the use of radioactive compounds resulting in easier reagent handling, reduced disposal costs and elimination of safety risks associated with radiolabel assays.

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