Bionas and Solvay Pharmaceuticals Research Laboratories report that the Bionas 2500 analysing system has been recognised to be a valuable tool for target validation studies
"It is known that angiotensin 1-8 (angiotensin II) acts via two receptors.
"The AT1 receptor mediates vasoconstriction upon stimulation, whereas the AT2 receptor is implicated in hypotensive effects.
"However, the mechanism through which angiotensin 1-7 induces its powerful hypotensive effect were unclear," explains Eric Ronken, principal scientist at Solvay.
On-line monitoring of endothelial cell physiology and its changes upon challenges by angiotensin 1-7 helped in delineating the mechanism of action by this peptide.
The Bionas 2500 analysing system is well suited for such experiments, as it measures cellular acidification, oxygen consumption and cell adhesion simultaneously in a label-free and non-invasive way.
"The Bionas system allows us to extend and optimise target validation studies by bringing the targets back into their physiological context", says Ronken.
The Bionas 2500 analysing system gives a complete overview over the physiologic state of cells.
It can be used to discriminate between different signal transduction pathways allowing target validation studies at an early stage in the drug discovery process.
Recently, Bionas announced the usefulness of its device to predict liver toxicity in primary human hepatocytes and standardised HepG2 cells.
