Reconstitution of human ether-a-go-go-related gene channels in microfabricated silicon chips

This paper reports on the reconstitution of human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG) channels in artificial bilayer lipid membranes (BLMs) formed in micropores fabricated in silicon chips. The hERG channels were isolated from Chinese hamster ovary cell lines expressing the channels and incorporated into the BLMs formed by a process in which the two lipid monolayers were folded into the micropores. The characteristic features of hERG channels reported by the patch-clamp method, including single-channel conductance, voltage dependence, sensitivity to typical drugs and dependence on the potassium concentration, were investigated in the BLM reconstitution system. The BLM with hERG channels incorporated exhibited a lifetime of ~65 h and a tolerance to repetitive solution exchanges. Such stable BLMs containing biological channels have the potential for use in a variety of applications, including high-throughput drug screening for various ion-channel proteins.