THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RESISTANCE OF A MEMBRANE PATCH AND PREDICTED CHANGES IN TOTAL PATCH CIRCUIT RESISTANCE SECONDARY TO SPONTANEOUS OR INDUCED ALTERATIONS IN PATCH GEOMETRY
Cg. Carlson, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RESISTANCE OF A MEMBRANE PATCH AND PREDICTED CHANGES IN TOTAL PATCH CIRCUIT RESISTANCE SECONDARY TO SPONTANEOUS OR INDUCED ALTERATIONS IN PATCH GEOMETRY, Journal of neuroscience methods, 70(1), 1996, pp. 83-89
The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between
the magnitude of the membrane resistance in the free area of a cell-at
tached patch-clamp recording and the change in total patch circuit res
istance that would be produced by the introduction of a series resista
nce, such as would be observed upon acquiring a patch-clamped membrane
vesicle. The results describe a method for determining the magnitude
of the membrane resistance in the free area of a membrane patch, and d
emonstrate that: (a) at a given value of shunt resistance, areas of me
mbrane with higher resistivity produce smaller proportional increases
in total patch circuit resistance upon acquiring a membrane vesicle; a
nd (b) a presumption of spherical vesicle formation provides a lower l
imit estimate of the membrane resistance. The described procedures and
relationships are useful in developing new techniques for examining c
hannel activity in membrane patches where individual events are below
the present limits of detection, for examining changes in membrane res
istivity and/or shunt resistance in patches undergoing cytoskeletal re
-organization, and for assessing the potential influence of series res
istance changes on single channel parameters in longer term cell-attac
hed patch-clamp recordings.