Guide to Electrophysiological Recording
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39
Chapter 4
Once the gigohm seal is established, the rectangular current pulse will disappear
entirely and be replaced by capacitance transients in synchrony with the rising and
falling edges of the command pulse (Figure 3.1, lowest trace). These can be canceled
by pressing the “Cp Fast: Auto button”. You may need to manually adjust the
capacitance (pF) and time constant (µs) parameters for optimal cancellation. (See
Chapter 3,
TUTORIAL 3
.) A slower component of the transients may be reduced using
the Cp Slow controls.
If you wish to remain in cell-attached mode (for example, to record single-channel
currents) you should increase the value of the feedback resistor in the headstage in
order to reduce instrument noise. (See Chapter 3,
TUTORIAL 3
.) This is done under
the Options button at the top of the MultiClamp Commander. After changing the
feedback resistor you may need to readjust the Cp Fast and Cp Slow settings.
If you intend to apply voltage steps to the patch, you may wish to use the Leak
Subtraction feature of the MultiClamp 700A. This subtracts a scaled (divided by the
resistance) version of the command pulse from the membrane current signal, and is
particularly intended for use at high gains where the interesting single-channel currents
are sitting on top of a leak current that may saturate the digitizing interface. The
operation of this feature is described in Chapter 3,
TUTORIAL 4
.
Whole-cell Voltage Clamp Recording
Obtain a gigaseal as described above. The electrode should contain a low Ca
2+
solution (
i.e.
, buffered with EGTA to ~ 100 nM) that mimics the intracellular milieu,
and the electrode resistance should be low (~3-4 M
Ω
). During or immediately after
seal formation, set the holding potential (Holding:) in the MultiClamp Commander to
the anticipated resting potential of the cell (typically ~ –60 or –70 mV). Alternatively,
the holding potential can be set in Clampex.
A pulse of strong suction is applied to rupture the cell membrane. This can again be
done by mouth suction or by a syringe. Mouth suction tends to give the best control.
Apply brief (~0.5 s) pulses of suction, starting gently (
e.g.
~80 mbar) and increasing
the suction after every couple of pulses until a large capacitance transient suddenly
appears (Figure 3.2). If you are using a 10 cc syringe, draw back on the plunger until