Abstract
As previous chapters in this book demonstrate, recently developed Procion dye injection techniques make it possible to study both the electrophysiological and the morphological properties of single neurons. This chapter describes how the electrophysiological and anatomical information derived from the use of dye-filled pipettes can be used to calculate passive membrane properties of nerve cells. Knowledge of the membrane parameters enables prediction of the size and relative effectiveness of synaptic potentials originating on the dendritic tree (Rall, 1962, 1967, 1970). In order to obtain accurate data, particular attention must be paid to micropipette recording techniques, and these will be discussed in the first part of this chapter. The experiments reported here were performed on cat motoneurons, but the techniques should be applicable to many other cells.
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References
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Barrett, J.N. (1973). Determination of Neuronal Membrane Properties Using Intracellular Staining Techniques. In: Kater, S.B., Nicholson, C. (eds) Intracellular Staining in Neurobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87123-8_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-87123-8_18
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