Two-compartment model for whole-cell data analysis and transient compensation

Recording and analysis of neuronal patch-clamp data involve many assumption s about membrane properties and cell morphology. Some of these assumptions introduce large errors or oversimplifications into the results. In particul ar, dendritic branching with high intracellular resistance leads to difficu lty with capacitance calculation and transient subtraction, and may signifi cantly distort measured currents. A two-compartment model, presented in det ail here, provides a simple method of reducing many of these problems for t he relatively simple case of cultured neurons studied with whole-cell patch electrodes. Some passive membrane properties may be accurately calculated, and the results may be used to correct recorded currents for resulting ser ies resistance, intracellular resistance, and capacitive transient errors. The model may be tailored to particular cell types or experimental conditio ns. Programs to implement the algorithms are available from http://www.its. caltech.edu/similar to nadeau/ Rscomp.html. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.