title: Incorporation of the HERG potassium channel in a mercury supported lipid bilayer.
abstract: The HERG potassium channel was incorporated in a mercury-supported tethered bilayer lipid membrane (tBLM) obtained by anchoring a thiolipid monolayer to the mercury surface and by self-assembling a lipid monolayer on top of it from a lipid film spread on the surface of an electrolyte solution. HERG was then incorporated in this tBLM from its micellar solution in Triton X-100, thus avoiding the use of vesicles in the preparation of the tBLM and of proteoliposomes in channel incorporation. The HERG "inward" current following a repolarization step was obtained by subtracting the current recorded upon addition of the specific inhibitor WAY from that recorded prior to this addition. This current was compared with that reported in the literature by the patch-clamp technique.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy. lucia.becucci@unifi.it
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becucci
authors.forename: Maria V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Carbone
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Biagiotti
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olivotto
authors.forename: Rolando
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guidelli
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D051638:Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D051638:Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D008628:Mercury