Merck Millipore hERG Ion Channel Membrane Preparation

The human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) is a potassium ion channel which is essential for normal cardiac repolarization. In drug screening models, the hERG K+ channel has been indicated to inhibit a wide variety of compounds, and its blockage can lead to cardiac QT interval prolongation and life threatening arrhythmias (Murphy et al. 2006). Cardiac safety relating to IKr K+ channels has become a major concern of regulatory agencies, as hERG channel inhibition has been identified as the firmest link to QT prolongation (Chiu et al. 2004). Millipore's hERG membrane preparations are crude membrane preparations made from HEK293 stable recombinant cell lines (Millipore cat. # CYL3039), which are ideal HTS tools for screening antagonists against the hERG channel. The membrane preparations exhibit a Kd of 5.2 nM for [3H]-Astemizole. With 10 μg/well hERG Membrane Prep and 3.0 nM [3H]-Astemizole, a greater than 4-fold signal-to-background ratio was obtained.