Human neurobalstoma cells, SH-SY5Y, are widely studied and data on their electrophysiological characteristics can be found in literature. We used this cell line to set up the whole cell patch-clamp technique, not yet available in our institute, with the goal to make it suitable both for our future scientific projects and for interdisciplinary studies with other research groups. Some instruments...

The GABA(A) channels are present in all neurons and are located both at synapses and outside of synapses where they generate phasic and tonic currents, respectively. The GABA(A) channel is a pentameric GABA-gated chloride channel. The channel subunits are grouped into 8 families (α1-6, β1-3, γ1-3, δ, ε, θ, π and ρ). Two alphas, two betas and one 3(rd) subunit form the functional channel. By com...

The use of a discontinuous single electrode voltage-clamp (dSEVC) offers an attractive alternative to the patch-clamp technique, since whole-cell measurements can be performed with a single sharp electrode. Comparison of current-voltage relations, however, revealed a weaker voltage dependence of channels measured with the dSEVC compared to patch clamp. The accuracy of the dSEVC was tested on Vi...

The patch-clamp technique is today the most well-established method for recording electrical activity from individual neurons or their subcellular compartments. Nevertheless, achieving stable recordings, even from individual cells, remains a time-consuming procedure of considerable complexity. Automation of many steps in conjunction with efficient information display can greatly assist experime...

The mammalian respiratory network reorganizes during early postnatal life. We characterized the postnatal developmental changes of calcium currents in neurons of the pre-Bötzinger complex (pBC), the presumed site for respiratory rhythm generation. The pBC contains not only respiratory rhythmic (R) but also nonrhythmic neurons (nR). Both types of neurons express low- and high-voltage-activated (...

The nature and electrophysiological properties of Ca(2+)-independent depolarization-activated potassium currents were investigated in vestibular primary neurons acutely isolated from postnatal mice using the whole cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Three types of currents were identified. The first current, sensitive to TEA (I(TEA)) and insensitive to 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), activ...

Patch-clamp recording is a powerful approach to monitoring membrane electrical activity with high temporal resolution. However, the spatial resolution of patch-clamp recording in a distributed structure such as a neuron or a brain slice is limited by the fact that each electrode records from just one point, making recording from more than a very small number of points impractical. An approach t...

Methods We conducted a retrospective observational analysis of our experience with different approaches and perfusion techniques in patients with thoraco-abdominal aneurysm. Group 1: 3 patients: aortic cross-clamp, with left heart bypass, without selective organ perfusion Group 2: 2 patients: aortic cross-clamp, without left heart bypass, selective organ perfusion Group 3: 1 patient: aortic cro...

Mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling is crucial for the regulation of protein synthesis. Most of known mTORC1 regulators have been isolated and characterized using cell culture systems, and the physiological roles of these regulators have not been fully tested in vivo. Previously we demonstrated that the insulin (INS) and amino acid (AA)-induced activation of mTORC1 is dev...