Systems Neurophysiology, Institute of Biology II, RWTH-Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 18;14(1):1660. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-51837-7.
The patch-clamp technique has revolutionized neurophysiology by allowing to study single neuronal excitability, synaptic connectivity, morphology, and the transcriptomic profile. However, the throughput in recordings is limited because of the manual replacement of patch-pipettes after each attempt which are often also unsuccessful. This has been overcome by automated cleaning the tips in detergent solutions, allowing to reuse the pipette for further recordings. Here, we developed a novel method of automated cleaning by sonicating the tips within the bath solution wherein the cells are placed, reducing the risk of contaminating the bath solution or internal solution of the recording pipette by any detergent and avoiding the necessity of a separate chamber for cleaning. We showed that the patch-pipettes can be used consecutively at least ten times and that the cleaning process does not negatively impact neither the brain slices nor other patched neurons. This method, combined with automated patch-clamp, highly improves the throughput for single and especially multiple recordings.
膜片钳技术通过研究单个神经元的兴奋性、突触连接、形态和转录组特征，彻底改变了神经生理学。然而，由于每次尝试后都需要手动更换贴片管，而且通常也不成功，因此记录的通量受到限制。通过在去污剂溶液中自动清洁尖端，使贴片管可以重复使用，从而克服了这一问题。在这里，我们开发了一种新的自动化清洁方法，即在细胞所在的浴液中对尖端进行超声处理，从而降低了任何清洁剂污染浴液或记录管内液的风险，并且避免了对清洁用单独腔室的需求。我们表明，贴片管可以至少连续使用十次，而且清洁过程不会对脑片或其他贴片神经元产生负面影响。这种方法与自动化膜片钳技术相结合，极大地提高了单次和特别是多次记录的通量。
