Patch-clamp Technique

Patch-clamp: the special case of the

voltage clamp
(1) Suck a small
piece of
membrane onto
the tip of a glass
micropipette
(~ 1 m in
diameter)

Cell

Patch-clamp: the special case of the

voltage clamp
(2) Gigaohm-seal

R > 1 GOhm

Cell

Patch-clamp: the special case of the

voltage clamp
(3) Sense

voltage here,
inside the
electrode, and
use voltage
clamp to keep
it constant.

Cell

Patch-clamp: the special case of the

voltage clamp
(3) Sense

voltage here,
inside the
electrode, and
use voltage
clamp to keep
it constant.

closed
open

+
Cell

Patch-clamp: the special case of the

voltage clamp

closed

(3) Turn on the aimed

potential the inside part
of the pipette and keep
it constantly by
applying the voltage
clamp technique.

open
open

Cell

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

voltage command

10 msec

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings)

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings)
2. Each channel opening is only a
brief event compared to the total
duration of the whole cell voltagedependent sodium current.

The macroscopic
sodium current

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings)
2. Each channel opening is only a brief
event compared to the total duration
of the whole cell voltage-dependent
sodium current.
3. Channel opening and closing is
variable in duration and latency.

The macroscopic
sodium current

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. The channels are either in open or
closed state.
2. The channel openings are short
events when compared with the
macroscopic sodium current.
3. The time duration and latency of the
channel openings are variable (case
sensitive). Might happen to not open
at all.
4. The open probability of the channels
resembles with that of the
macroscopic current.

Summation of 300 recordings

The macroscopic
sodium current

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings)
2. Each channel opening is only a brief
event compared to the total duration
of the whole cell voltage-dependent
sodium current.
3. Channel opening and closing is
variable in duration and latency.
4. The overall probability of channel
opening is similar to the total sodium
current. Look at the sum of the
currents from 300 trials.
5. Sometimes an individual channel
doesnt open even once.

Summation of 300 recordings

The macroscopic
sodium current

Properties of individual voltagedependent sodium channels

1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings)
2. Each channel opening is only a brief
event compared to the total duration
of the whole cell voltage-dependent
sodium current.
3. Channel opening and closing is
variable in duration and latency.
4. The overall probability of channel
opening is similar to the total sodium
current. Look at the sum of the
currents from 300 trials.
5. Sometimes an individual channel
doesnt open even once.
6. Second openings are rare (because
of inactivation)

Summation of 300 recordings

The macroscopic
sodium current

Similarly, individual potassium channels,

calcium channels, and other channels
can be studied by patch clamping
1. Individual channels are either open
or closed (no partial openings).
Sometimes more than one channel is
in a patch.
2. Each channel opening is only a brief
event compared to the total duration
of the whole cell current.
3. Channel opening and closing is
variable in duration and latency.
4. The overall probability of channel
opening is similar to the whole cell
current
5. Second openings can happen if
theres no inactivation.

Slowly inactivating K
current channel (Ram &
Dagan, 1987)

The configurations of the patch-clamp technique

OnCell

Cell-Attached

The configurations of the patch-clamp

technique

OnCell

Insideout patch

The configurations of the patch-clamp technique

OnCell

Whole
Cell

The configurations of the patch-clamp technique

Whole
Cell

The configurations of the patch-clamp technique

Whole
Cell

outsideout patch