PURPOSE To investigate whether lens fiber cells isolated and maintained under calcium-free conditions exhibit distinct membrane currents. METHODS Fiber cells were isolated from the cortical portion of neonate rat lenses using a trypsin digestion protocol and were maintained in EDTA-buffered Ringer's solutions. Membrane currents were recorded from fiber bundles using the whole-cell patch-clamp...

cytomegalovirus is the leading viral cause of congenital disease, often producing serious neurological deficits. cmv attacks the developing central nervous system (cns) resulting in serious brain disorders that include microencephaly, epilepsy, deafness, microgyria, mental retardation, sensory loss, motor problems, and psychiatric disturbances. in addition, cmv is a clinically important opportu...

This course module introduces the analysis of data from intracellular patch-clamp recordings in the voltage clamp mode, focusing on the detection and statistical description of spontaneous as well as evoked post-synaptic currents (PSCs). After having completed the module, students should be able to detect PSCs by setting appropriate thresholds and analyze amplitude distribution, reliability and...

Unlike the genomics revolution, which was largely enabled by a single technological advance (high throughput sequencing), rapid advancement in proteomics will require a broader effort to increase the throughput of a number of key tools for functional analysis of different types of proteins. In the case of ion channels -a class of (membrane) proteins of great physiological importance and potenti...

The conventional patch clamp has long been considered the best approach for studying ion channel function and pharmacology. However, its low throughput has been a major hurdle to overcome for ion channel drug discovery. The recent emergence of higher throughput, automated patch clamp technology begins to break this bottleneck by providing medicinal chemists with high-quality, information-rich d...