Abstract
The paper by Hamill et al. (1981) has already given an overview of the design of a patch clamp and other apparatus for single-channel recording. This chapter will consider some aspects of the electronic circuitry in greater detail, the main topic being the design of low-noise, wide-bandwidth current-measuring amplifiers. Under good patch-recording conditions, the tight seal (gigaseal) and patch membrane have such a low intrinsic noise level that the movement of a few hundred elementary charges should be detectable. The engineering challenge is to preserve this low noise level in the electronic circuitry.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aseltine, J. A., 1958, Transform Method in Linear System Analysis, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Brennecke, R., and Lindemann, B., 1972, Theory of a membrane voltage clamp with discontinuous feedback through a pulse current clamp, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 45:184–188.
Guld, C., 1962, Cathode follower and negative capacitance as high input impedance circuits, Proc. IRE 50:1912–1927.
Hamill, O. P., Marty, A., Neher, E., Sakmann, B., and Sigworth, F. J., 1981, Improved patch-clamp techniques for high-resolution current recording from cells and cell-free membrane patches, Pfluegers Arch. 391:85–100.
Hodgkin, A. L., Huxley, A. F., and Katz, B., 1952, Measurement of current-voltage relations in the membrane of the giant axon of Loligo, J. Physiol. (Lond.) 116:424–448.
Horowitz, P., and Hill, W., 1980, The Art of Electronics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Nyquist, H., 1928, Thermal agitation of electric charge in conductance, Phys. Rev. 32:110–113.
Papoulis, A., 1965, Probability, Random Variables, and Stochastic Processes, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Sigworth, F. J., 1980, The variance of sodium current fluctuations at the node of Ranvier,J. Physiol. (Lond.) 307:97–129.
Van der Ziel, A., 1970, Noise in solid state devices and lasers, Proc. IEEE 58:1178–1206.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sigworth, F.J. (1983). Electronic Design of the Patch Clamp. In: Sakmann, B., Neher, E. (eds) Single-Channel Recording. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7858-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7858-1_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7860-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-7858-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive