Whole-cell voltage clamp on skeletal muscle fibers with the silicone-clamp technique.

Publication details

Overview

Citation, authorship and indexing details for this publication.

Journal Article

Published

Authors

Pouvreau S, Collet C, Allard B, Jacquemond V

Journal

Methods Mol Biol 2007 ; 403(): 185-94

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)

DOI

10.1007/978-1-59745-529-9_12

Open DOI

PMID

18827995

Open PubMed

ISSN

1064-3745

Scientific fields

Ca2+imaging Ca2+signaling Dihydropyridine Receptor Electrophysiology Excitation-contraction coupling Ion channels Myopathies/Dystrophies Receptor Ryanodine skeletal muscle

Members

Vincent Jacquemond

Teams

Excitability and calcium signaling in normal and diseased skeletal muscle

Summary

Control of membrane voltage and membrane current measurements are of strong interest for the study of numerous aspects of skeletal muscle physiology and pathophysiology. The silicone-clamp technique makes use of a conventional patch-clamp apparatus to achieve whole-cell voltage clamp of a restricted portion of a fully differentiated adult skeletal muscle fiber. The major part of an isolated muscle fiber is insulated from the extracellular medium with silicone grease, and the tip of a single microelectrode connected to the amplifier is then inserted within the fiber through the silicone layer. This method represents an alternative to the traditional vaseline-gap isolation and two or three microelectrode voltage-clamp techniques. This chapter reviews the main benefits of the silicone-clamp technique and provides detailed insights into its practical implementation.