A high throughput screening method for determining the pharmacological effect of a given agent, the method comprising, providing an assay plate with at least one sample well, where at least one well contains a volume of media and at least one zebrafish, introducing at least one agent to at least one of the wells with the media and zebrafish and incubating for a given amount of time, providing an electrical stimulus to the plate so as to promote a locomotor response in the zebrafish, and detecting the locomotor response of the zebrafish in response to the electrical stimulus in each well an agent was added to relative to a control well. Also disclosed is an assay plate that includes a first electrode located substantially at the center of the bottom portion of the well and a second electrode located substantially around the circumference of the well wall.