Reference Section
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89
Chapter 5
Headstage
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Principles and properties of the V-Clamp and I-Clamp circuits in the CV-7A
headstage.
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See also Feedback Resistor, Mode, Noise, Series Resistance Compensation.
The CV-7A headstage contains two distinct circuits, a current-to-voltage (I-V)
converter used in V-Clamp mode, and a voltage follower used in I-Clamp mode. The
I-V converter is similar to that found in an Axopatch-1D headstage, whereas the
voltage follower is like that in an Axoclamp 2B headstage.
Voltage Clamp Circuit
In V-Clamp mode, the goal is to hold the interior of an electrode at a command
potential while measuring the currents that flow down the electrode. An I-V converter
achieves this by producing a voltage output that is proportional to the current input.
There are two types of I-V converters used in patch clamp headstages: capacitive
feedback (used in the Axopatch 200B), and resistive feedback (used in the
Axopatch-1D and in the MultiClamp 700A). The essential parts of a resistive-feedback
headstage are shown in Figure 4.11.
+
V
p
BOOST
-
+
-
R
I
f
OFFSET
AND
SCALING
HIGH-
FREQUENCY
BOOST
I
V
o
CIRCUIT
f
PROBE
Figure 4.11.
Resistive-feedback headstage.
The heart of the circuit is an operational amplifier (op amp) in the PROBE. The
behavior of this circuit depends upon two characteristics of an ideal op amp.