Investigation of the identity and modes of action of neurotransmitters in the mammalian central nervous system can be facilitated by simultaneous intracellular recording of membrane potential and extracellular iontophoresis of agonists and antagonists. We describe here techniques for conveniently constructing a compound microelectrode, originally described by Sonnhof (Pflugers Arch 341, 351-358...

Three-dimensional vertical micro- and nanostructures can enhance the signal quality of multielectrode arrays and promise to become the prime methodology for the investigation of large networks of electrogenic cells. So far, access to the intracellular environment has been obtained via spontaneous poration, electroporation, or by surface functionalization of the micro/nanostructures; however, th...

Selective blockade of inhibitory synaptic transmission onto specific neurons is a useful tool for dissecting the excitatory and inhibitory synaptic components of ongoing network activity. To achieve this, intracellular recording with a patch solution capable of blocking GABAA receptors has advantages over other manipulations, such as pharmacological application of GABAergic antagonists or optog...

To fill microelectrodes using backfilling method needs excessive time approximately 4-6 h. It is often difficult to fill microelectrodes without damage or leakage. A main problem is bubble formation in microelectrodes which has an impact on the electrical properties of the electrode and thus it influences the quality of the recording. Based on Archimede's principle there is a force within a sol...

We have developed an in vivo model for intracellular recording in the adult anesthetized mouse using sharp microelectrode electrodes as a basis for investigations of motoneuron properties in transgenic mouse strains. We demonstrate that it is possible to record postsynaptic potentials underlying identified circuits in the spinal cord. Forty-one motoneurons with antidromic spike potentials (>50 ...

The electrical properties of the water mold Achlya bisexualis were investigated using intracellular microelectrodes. Hyphae growing in a defined medium maintained a membrane potential (Vm) of 150 to -170 mV, interior negative. Under the conditions used here, this potential was insensitive to changes in the inorganic ion composition of the medium. Changes in external pH did affect Vm, but only o...

Reversal potentials (E(IPSP)) of the inhibitory postsynaptic potential and the membrane resting potentials (E(M)) of lobster muscle fibers were determined with intracellular recording under a variety of ionic conditions. E(IPSP) is solely dependent on the electromotive force of anionic batteries; i.e., on the electrochemical gradient for a "mobile" fraction of intracellular Cl (Cl(i)) which is ...

Intracellular neural recording is a technique that has been under development for many years, yet still remains fragile and difficult, and requires immobilization of the neurons being recorded. We are developing a system of implantable silicon chips that will intracellularly record, and locally store, the neural signaling. The principal reason we are doing this is to record from intact, mobile ...