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History of Electrophysiology and the Patch Clamp

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Book cover Patch-Clamp Methods and Protocols

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1183))

Abstract

We provide a historic outlook on the development of the concept of bioelectricity, with emphasis on the neuromuscular junction as a model that revolutionized our thinking of the nerve, nervous, and muscle tissue excitability. We abridge some crucial experiments in defining the electrical excitability of biological cells. We also provide an insight into developments of tools and methods, which gradually yielded a contemporary “palette” of electrophysiology approaches, including the patch clamp. Pioneering steps in this journey, ranging from Galvani’s experiments using the Leyden jar to those of Neher and Sakmann using a gigaseal patch-clamp approach, are pictorially illustrated. This chapter is meant to be a perspective to the following sections in this volume dedicated to patch-clamp methods and protocols.

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Acknowledgements

The authors’ research was supported by Alzheimer’s Research Trust (UK) to A.V. and by National Institutes of Health (The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development award HD078678) to V.P.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK

    Alexei Verkhratsky

  2. Achucarro Center for Neuroscience, IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain

    Alexei Verkhratsky

  3. Department of Neurosciences, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Leioa, Spain

    Alexei Verkhratsky

  4. Atomic Force Microscopy & Nanotechnology Laboratories, Department of Neurobiology, Center for Glial Biology in Medicine, Civitan International Research Center, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Vladimir Parpura

  5. Department of Biotechnology, University or Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Vladimir Parpura

Authors
  1. Alexei Verkhratsky
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  2. Vladimir Parpura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexei Verkhratsky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Translational Bioscience, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Marzia Martina

  2. Dept of Neuroscience & Brain Technologies, Italian Institute of Technology, Genoa, Italy

    Stefano Taverna

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Verkhratsky, A., Parpura, V. (2014). History of Electrophysiology and the Patch Clamp. In: Martina, M., Taverna, S. (eds) Patch-Clamp Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1183. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1096-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1096-0_1

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1095-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1096-0

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