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Study of Ca2+ channel by Patch clamp (CAT#: STEM-PET-0034-WXH)

Introduction

Voltage-gated calcium (Ca2+) channels are key transducers of membrane potential changes into intracellular Ca2+ transients that initiate many physiological events. There are ten members of the voltage-gated Ca2+ channel family in mammals, and they serve distinct roles in cellular signal transduction.




Principle

The patch-clamp technique involves a glass micropipette forming a tight gigaohm seal with the cell membrane. The micropipette contains a wire bathed in an electrolytic solution to conduct ions. To measure single ion channels, a “patch” of membrane is pulled away from the cell after forming a gigaohm seal.

Applications

• Study of ionic currents in individual isolated living cells, tissue sections, or patches of cell membrane.
• Study of excitable cells such as neurons, cardiomyocytes, muscle fibers, and pancreatic beta cells.
• Study of ion channels.

Procedure

1. Fabrication of glass electrodes
2. Measuring glass electrode resistance and compensating offset potential
3. Glass electrode contact to cell membrane and obtain a GΩ seal
4. Acquire and analyse recordings using the appropriate software.

Materials

Patch clamp system