Retinal amacrine cells are interneurons that make lateral and vertical connections in the inner plexiform layer of the retina. Amacrine cells do not possess a long axon, and this morphological feature is the origin of their naming. Their dendrites function as both presynaptic and postsynaptic sites. Half of all amacrine cells are GABAergic inhibitory neurons that mediate lateral inhibition, and...

The activities of groups of neurons in a circuit or brain region are important for neuronal computations that contribute to behaviors and disease states. Traditional extracellular recordings have been powerful and scalable, but much less is known about the intracellular processes that lead to spiking activity. We present a robotic system, the multipatcher, capable of automatically obtaining bli...

Abstract Lithium salts are used as mood-balancing medication prescribed to patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders, such bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. cross the blood-brain barrier reach brain parenchyma within few hours after oral application, however, how lithium influences directly human neuronal function is unknown. We applied patch–clamp microelectrode array te...

In this projecting work we propose a mass spectrometric patch-clamp equipment with the capillary performing both a local potential registration at the cell membrane and the analyte suction simultaneously. This paper provides a current literature analysis comparing the possibilities of the novel approach proposed with the known methods, such as scanning patch-clamp, scanning ion conductance micr...

The NG108-15 neuroblastoma/glioma hybrid cell line has been frequently used for toxin detection, pharmaceutical screening and as a whole-cell biosensor. However, detailed analysis of its action potentials during toxin or drug administration has not been accomplished previously using patch clamp electrophysiology. In order to explore the possibility of identifying toxins based on their effect on...

Last time we considered at some length the sources of random noise due to the thermal motion of ions and electrons. Now we turn to the practical matter of dealing with the pickup of nonrandom electrical signals, such as interference from the 60 Hz power lines or from a computer monitor. There are two main principles to consider: electrostatic pickup through unshielded surfaces, and magnetic pic...

We used an in vitro model for glioma cell invasion (transwell migration assay) and patch-clamp techniques to investigate the role of volume-activated Cl(-) currents (I(Cl,Vol)) in glioma cell invasion. Hypotonic solutions ( approximately 230 mOsm) activated outwardly rectifying currents that reversed near the equilibrium potential for Cl(-) ions (E(Cl)). These currents (I(Cl,Vol)) were sensitiv...

Background Bradykinin (BK) plays a significant role in pathophysiology of different diseases from angioedema to brain stroke and heart attack by inducing vasodilatation and increasing capillary permeability. We investigate the potential effects of natriuretic peptides on BK signaling by measuring membrane potential (Vm) of HEK293 cells using the whole cell patch clamp technique. HEK293cells are...