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Tight-Seal Whole-Cell Recording

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Abstract

Although patch pipettes were originally developed for the recording of single channels, they can be of great advantage for more conventional recordings from whole cells, particularly when the cells under study are small. As described by Hamill et al. (1981), a membrane patch can be broken by a short pulse of suction after a gigaseal has been formed. Very often, this manipulation does not damage the pipette-membrane seal, so that a conductive pathway is established between the pipette and the cell interior, which is well insulated from the bath. It is our experience that this way of penetrating a cell inflicts much less damage on the cell than the standard microelectrode impalement.

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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York

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Marty, A., Neher, E. (1983). Tight-Seal Whole-Cell Recording. In: Sakmann, B., Neher, E. (eds) Single-Channel Recording. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7858-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7858-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7860-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-7858-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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