Functional Screening in the Melanophore Bioassay

The melanophore bioassay is a robust, sensitive, and versatile procedure for screening G protein–coupled receptors in a variety of formats. Because melanophores contain a wide variety of G proteins, they can be employed as a sensitive, real‐time response system for studying transfected receptors and for defining equilibria for drug effects. This assay can be run in 96‐well microtiter plates or in open‐lawn 1536 format, and can yield conventional agonist‐antagonist as well as constitutive assays.