Single-Channel Recording

Description

Single-channel recording has become a widely used tool for the study of ion permeation mechanisms in biological membranes. Whereas the technique might have been considered an "art" after its introduction in 1976, it developed into a relatively simple method after it became possible to obtain high-resistance (several gigaohm) membrane-pipette seals. In the summer of 1982, a course on the technique was held at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture in Erice, Sicily. It brought together people from most of the laboratories involved in patch clamping at that time. During the course, it became apparent that the technique had reached a state of maturity. Repeatedly, the opinion was expressed that a detailed description of all the aspects of the technique including representative examples of results should be available. We therefore asked the course instructors, as well as several other colleagues, to provide chapters on selected topics in order to produce this volume. The different variants of patch clamping were described quite extensively in an article by Hamill, Marty, Neher, Sakmann, and Sigworth (Pflugers Archiv 391:85) in 1981. Rather than repeating this survey in an introductory chapter, we chose to reprint that article in the Appendix of this volume (by permission of Springer-Verlag). The methods section will, therefore, go straight into detailed aspects of the technol­ ogy. Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Electronic Design of the Patch Clamp....Pages 3-35 Geometric Parameters of Pipettes and Membrane Patches....Pages 37-51 Science and Technology of Patch-Recording Electrodes....Pages 53-68 Enzymatic Dispersion of Heart and Other Tissues....Pages 69-76 A Primer in Cell Culture for Patchologists....Pages 77-90 Patch-Clamped Liposomes....Pages 91-105 Tight-Seal Whole-Cell Recording....Pages 107-122 The Loose Patch Clamp....Pages 123-132 Front Matter....Pages 133-133 The Principles of the Stochastic Interpretation of Ion-Channel Mechanisms....Pages 135-175 Conformational Transitions of Ionic Channels....Pages 177-189 Fitting and Statistical Analysis of Single-Channel Records....Pages 191-263 Automated Analysis of Single-Channel Records....Pages 265-285 Analysis of Nonstationary Channel Kinetics....Pages 287-299 An Example of Analysis....Pages 301-321 Membrane Current and Membrane Potential from Single-Channel Kinetics....Pages 323-342 Front Matter....Pages 343-343 Bursts of Openings in Transmitter-Activated Ion Channels....Pages 345-364 Is the Acetylcholine Receptor a Unit-Conductance Channel?....Pages 365-376 Analysis of Single-Channel Data from Glutamate Receptor-Channel Complexes on Locust Muscle....Pages 377-388 Experimental Approaches Used to Examine Single Glutamate-Receptor Ion Channels in Locust Muscle Fibers....Pages 389-400 Cholinergic Chloride Channels in Snail Neurons....Pages 401-407 Front Matter....Pages 343-343 Single-Channel Analysis in Aplysia Neurons A Specific K + Channel Is Modulated by Serotonin and Cyclic AMP....Pages 409-423 Cholecystokinin and Acetylcholine Activation of Single-Channel Currents via Second Messenger in Pancreatic Acinar Cells....Pages 425-435 Observations on Single Calcium Channels....Pages 437-449 Potassium and Chloride Channels in Red Blood Cells....Pages 451-471 The Influence of Membrane Patch Isolation on Single Acetylcholine-Channel Current in Rat Myotubes....Pages 473-480 Back Matter....Pages 481-503