Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
Intracellular Recording In Vivo and Patch-Clamp
Recording on Brain Slices
Ping Deng and Zao C. Xu
Abstract
Electrical activity is one of the major ways by which neurons communicate with each other. To understand
how the brain works in physiological and pathological conditions, we need to know how the neuron works
by monitoring the electrical activities of the neuron at different circumstances. Many electrophysiological
techniques are available to obtain information from nerve system. This chapter introduces two techniques
that can collect information of synaptic transmission and intrinsic membrane properties from individual
neurons. Intracellular recording in vivo can examine the spontaneous fi ring, evoked postsynaptic potentials,
and membrane properties at the cellular level in intact animals. This technique preserves the integrity of
the brain, as well as the whole body system of the animal, and therefore is ideal to investigate the electro-
physiological changes in various animal models of neurological disorders. Patch-clamp recording on brain
slices is a well-control reduced system to examine the electrophysiology at the cellular level with the whole-
cell mode. It can also examine the single-ion-channel activities with the cell-attached mode or by isolation
of a small piece of cell membrane. Combining pharmacological manipulations, the patch-clamp recording
on brain slices signifi cantly expand the horizon of electrophysiological studies on neurons in physiological
and pathological conditions.
Key words: Synaptic transmission, Postsynaptic potentials, Membrane property, Ion channel, In vitro
preparation
1. Intracellular
Recording and
Staining In Vivo
The technique of intracellular recording in vivo was introduced by
Sir J. C. Eccles in the early 1950s ( 1 ) and further developed in the
following decades by the leading scientists in the fi eld ( 2-4 ).
Intracellular recording in vivo offers unique advantages for the
study of neurophysiological mechanisms underlying neuronal injury.
Extracellular recording in vivo collects important information
1.1. Introduction
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