Abstract
Patch-clamp recording techniques have revolutionized understanding of the function and sub-cellular location of ion channels in excitable cells. The cell-attached patch-clamp configuration represents the method of choice to describe the endogenous properties of voltage-activated ion channels in the axonal, somatic and dendritic membrane of neurons, without disturbance of the intracellular milieu. Here, we directly examine the errors associated with cell-attached patch-clamp measurement of ensemble ion channel activity. We find for a number of classes of voltage-activated channels, recorded from the soma and dendrites of neurons in acute brain-slices and isolated cells, that the amplitude and kinetics of ensemble ion channel activity recorded in cell-attached patches is significantly distorted by transmembrane voltage changes generated by the flow of current through the activated ion channels. We outline simple error-correction procedures that allow a more accurate description of the density and properties of voltage-activated channels to be incorporated into computational models of neurons.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 242 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Nature Communications |
Volume | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 15 Mar 2011 |
Keywords
- animals
- artifacts
- brain
- cell membrane
- cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channels
- dendrites
- electric conductivity
- electricity
- gene expression
- HEK293 Cells
- humans
- hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels
- ion channel gating
- ions
- membrane potentials
- mice
- models, biological
- neurons
- patch-clamp techniques
- plasmids
- potassium channels
- rats
- rats, wistar
- transfection