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Guide to Electrophysiological Recording
MultiClamp 700A Theory and Operation, Copyright 2000, 2001 Axon Instruments, Inc.
electrodes were nulled at the beginning of the experiment, and your voltage
values may be in error by at least this amount. Large offset errors may
indicate that your electrode wires need rechloriding, or a fluid leak has
developed in your chamber, causing an electrical short circuit to the
microscope.
If you use both headstages on the MultiClamp 700A (
e.g.
for making
simultaneous recordings from pairs of cells) you may wonder whether one or
both headstage ground sockets need to be connected to the bath electrode. We
have found empirically that the noise in the recordings depends on which
headstage is grounded and what mode it is in (V-Clamp or I-Clamp). It is
helpful to have a wire connected from each headstage to the bath electrode,
with the connection able to be switched off by a toggle switch without
bumping the electrode. In this way the best grounding configuration can be
established during the experiment.
Interfacing a Computer
Because the MultiClamp 700A is a computer-controlled instrument, the installation of
a computer in your electrophysiology rig is obligatory. The minimum computer
configuration requires a serial port for communicating with the MultiClamp 700A.
However, in order to make full use of the power and convenience of your computer, it
is recommended that you also attach a digitizing interface, such as the Digidata 1322A.
An interface allows you to generate command signals and save the data in a very
flexible manner, without the cost and complexity of a conventional system based on
stimulators, digital oscilloscopes, laboratory tape recorders and chart recorders.
Digitizing interfaces are typically connected to the computer via a card (
i.e.
, a SCSI
card) that is provided with the interface. Finally, it is necessary to install software to
control the interface. Software is available from Axon Instruments (
e.g.
pCLAMP) or
other vendors, or you can write your own. The beauty of the MultiClamp package is
that you are not tied to any particular PC data acquisition software. Any PC-based
software that is able to control the digitizing interface is acceptable, while the
MultiClamp Commander runs in the background controlling the MultiClamp 700A.