Rapid Characterisation Protocols for Patch-Clamp Electrophysiology

Collection of protocols for rapid characterisation of ion channel kinetics.

Here we have provided plain text .txt and comma-separated-value .csv formats.

.atf files are also provided and are intended to be used with the Axon pClamp software.

Some also support .eph files which are intended to be used with the Nanion SyncroPatch software.

Staircase voltage clamp for hERG/IKr measurements

The protocol staircase-ramp is a short, high information-content voltage clamp protocol that is applicable in automated high-throughput patch clamp systems. A dedicated Github repository shows how to fit to data from this protocol

Sinusoidal voltage clamp for hERG/IKr measurements

The protocol sinewave-ramp is a slightly-updated version of the sinusoidal voltage clamp we first published in 2018 (which has a dedicated Github repository). The update here is a ramp during the initial 'leak step' rather than a fixed potential.

Format/Units

Each file has two columns, the first one is time (in [seconds]) and the second column is voltage (in [milliVolts]).

Acknowledging this work

Please cite the following papers if you use the protocols above for any studies:

Staircase protocol

Lei, C. L., Clerx, M., Gavaghan, D. J., Polonchuk, L., Mirams, G. R., Wang, K. (2019). Rapid characterisation of hERG channel kinetics I: using an automated high-throughput system. Biophysical Journal, 117(12):2438-2454.

Sinusoidal protocol

Beattie, K. A., Hill, A. P., Bardenet, R., Cui, Y., Vandenberg, J. I., Gavaghan, D. J., de Boer, T. P. & Mirams, G. R. (2018). Sinusoidal voltage protocols for rapid characterisation of ion channel kinetics. J. Physiol. 596, 1813–1828.