Simultaneous Optical Recording in Multiple Cells by Digital Holographic Microscopy of Chloride Current Associated to Activation of the Ligand-Gated Chloride Channel GABA_A Receptor

Chloride channels represent a group of targets for major clinical indications. However, molecular screening for chloride channel modulators has proven to be difficult and time-consuming as approaches essentially rely on the use of fluorescent dyes or invasive patch-clamp techniques which do not lend themselves to the screening of large sets of compounds. To address this problem, we have developed a non-invasive optical method, based on digital holographic microcopy (DHM), allowing monitoring of ion channel activity without using any electrode or fluorescent dye. To illustrate this approach, GABA_A mediated chloride currents have been monitored with DHM. Practically, we show that DHM can non-invasively provide the quantitative determination of transmembrane chloride fluxes mediated by the activation of chloride channels associated with GABA_A receptors. Indeed through an original algorithm, chloride currents elicited by application of appropriate agonists of the GABA_A receptor can be derived from the quantitative phase signal recorded with DHM. Finally, chloride currents can be determined and pharmacologically characterized non-invasively simultaneously on a large cellular sampling by DHM.