A range of voltage-clamp protocol designs for rapid capture of hERG kinetics.

We provide details of a series of short voltage-clamp protocols designed for gathering a large amount of information on hERG (K 11.1) ion channel gating. The protocols have a limited number of steps and consist only of steps and ramps, making them easy to implement on any patch clamp setup, including automated platforms. The primary objective is to assist with parameterisation, selection and refinement of mathematical models of hERG gating. We detail a series of manual and automated model-driven designs, together with an explanation of their rationale and design criteria. Experimental data under all these protocols is available in a partner publication. Although the protocols are intended to study hERG1a currents, the approaches could be easily extended and generalised to other ion channel currents.