Figure 1.
Schematics of the voltage-clamp experiment: (a) idealized and (b) more realistic. (a) Only the current of interest (red) is modelled. The membrane voltage, Vm (red) is assumed to be the same as the command voltage, Vcmd (green) set by the amplifier, and the observed current, Iout (green) is assumed to be equal to the ion channel current, Iion (red). (b) Here, not only the current of interest (red) is modelled, but the patch-clamp amplifier process (green) and all of the experimental artefacts (purple) are included in the model. The differences between Vm (red) and Vcmd (green), and between Iion (red) and Iout (green), are explicitly modelled in this framework. (Online version in colour.)