Electrophysiological Assessment of Cerebral Vasospasm - Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments - page 481

voltage-dependent Na + , K + or Ca 2+ channels could be evaluated in
isolated smooth muscle cells from arteries after human or experi-
mental SAH.
In addition, the patch-clamp technique could be combined
with Ca 2+ or other ion imaging methods by loading the patch
pipette with ion-sensitive dyes to achieve a simultaneous recording
of ion channel currents with changes of intracellular Ca 2+ or other
ion concentrations for understanding the interactions between ion
channels and intracellular Ca 2+ stores.
The suggestion that cortical spreading depression causes cere-
bral infarction in patients with SAH, in addition or independent of
angiographic vasospasm, is an opportunity for use of patch-clamp
techniques to study the role of ion channels or ligand-gated ion
channel forming receptors on neurons and glia after SAH ( 16-19 ).

5. Advantages and
Disadvantages of
Using Patch-Clamp
Techniques

The advantage of patch-clamp techniques are that they provide the
most comprehensive method to study the functional role of ion
channels and receptors and their interactions in all types of cells
that may involved in the pathophysiology of vasospasm at single
cell or even single channel levels. The disadvantages, however,
are not minor and probably account for the relatively few studies
of SAH tissues that have been reported using this technique.
The equipment is expensive and requires substantial expertise to
set up and operate. The methods themselves are hard to learn and
can require months of training to be able to perform even simple
experiments.

References

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81-86
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4. Nikitina E, Kawashima A, Takahashi M,
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