Patch Clamping Moves to Chips

Planar Patch Clamping

“Optical Patch-clamping”

We describe an optical technique using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy to obtain simultaneous and independent recordings from numerous ion channels via imaging of single-channel Ca2+ flux. Muscle nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors made up of alphabetagammadelta subunits were expressed in Xenopus oocytes, and single channel Ca2+ fluorescence transients (SCCaFTs) wer...

Automated Patch Clamping Based on Glass Electrodes

A conventional borosilicate glass patch pipette is glued into a plastic jacket, forming the entity of a FlipTip®. One or two three-channel modules of recording tip sockets are mounted on a liquid handler platform to take up FlipTips. The tip sockets are connected to preamplifiers (HEKA) and to a suction system. The inner chamber of the tip sockets is filled with intracellular solution (IS), and...

Preparation of Drosophila central neurons for in situ patch clamping.

Short generation times and facile genetic techniques make the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster an excellent genetic model in fundamental neuroscience research. Ion channels are the basis of all behavior since they mediate neuronal excitability. The first voltage gated ion channel cloned was the Drosophila voltage gated potassium channel Shaker(1,2). Toward understanding the role of ion channel...

Culturing and Electrophysiology of Cells on NRCC Patch-clamp Chips

Due to its exquisite sensitivity and the ability to monitor and control individual cells at the level of ion channels, patch-clamping is the gold standard of electrophysiology applied to disease models and pharmaceutical screens alike. The method traditionally involves gently contacting a cell with a glass pipette filled by a physiological solution in order to isolate a patch of the membrane un...