Biomaterial Database

Advances in the automation of whole-cell patch clamp technology. 2019

Ho-Jun Suk, and Edward S Boyden, and Ingrid van Welie

Health Sciences and Technology, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Media Lab, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; McGovern Institute, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Electrophysiology is the study of neural activity in the form of local field potentials, current flow through ion channels, calcium spikes, back propagating action potentials and somatic action potentials, all measurable on a millisecond timescale. Despite great progress in imaging technologies and sensor proteins, none of the currently available tools allow imaging of neural activity on a millisecond timescale and beyond the first few hundreds of microns inside the brain. The patch clamp technique has been an invaluable tool since its inception several decades ago and has generated a wealth of knowledge about the nature of voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels, sub-threshold and supra-threshold activity, and characteristics of action potentials related to higher order functions. Many techniques that evolve to be standardized tools in the biological sciences go through a period of transformation in which they become, at least to some degree, automated, in order to improve reproducibility, throughput and standardization. The patch clamp technique is currently undergoing this transition, and in this review, we will discuss various aspects of this transition, covering advances in automated patch clamp technology both in vitro and in vivo.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009488	Neurosciences	The scientific disciplines concerned with the embryology, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, etc., of the nervous system.	Neuroscience
D004594	Electrophysiology	The study of the generation and behavior of electrical charges in living organisms particularly the nervous system and the effects of electricity on living organisms.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D057205	Automation, Laboratory	Controlled operations of analytic or diagnostic processes, or systems by mechanical or electronic devices.	Laboratory Automation
D018408	Patch-Clamp Techniques	An electrophysiologic technique for studying cells, cell membranes, and occasionally isolated organelles. All patch-clamp methods rely on a very high-resistance seal between a micropipette and a membrane; the seal is usually attained by gentle suction. The four most common variants include on-cell patch, inside-out patch, outside-out patch, and whole-cell clamp. Patch-clamp methods are commonly used to voltage clamp, that is control the voltage across the membrane and measure current flow, but current-clamp methods, in which the current is controlled and the voltage is measured, are also used.	Patch Clamp Technique,Patch-Clamp Technic,Patch-Clamp Technique,Voltage-Clamp Technic,Voltage-Clamp Technique,Voltage-Clamp Techniques,Whole-Cell Recording,Patch-Clamp Technics,Voltage-Clamp Technics,Clamp Technique, Patch,Clamp Techniques, Patch,Patch Clamp Technic,Patch Clamp Technics,Patch Clamp Techniques,Recording, Whole-Cell,Recordings, Whole-Cell,Technic, Patch-Clamp,Technic, Voltage-Clamp,Technics, Patch-Clamp,Technics, Voltage-Clamp,Technique, Patch Clamp,Technique, Patch-Clamp,Technique, Voltage-Clamp,Techniques, Patch Clamp,Techniques, Patch-Clamp,Techniques, Voltage-Clamp,Voltage Clamp Technic,Voltage Clamp Technics,Voltage Clamp Technique,Voltage Clamp Techniques,Whole Cell Recording,Whole-Cell Recordings