The effect of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on the membrane properties was analyzed in isolated bullfrog taste cells using a perforated whole-cell patch-clamp technique. AVP (100 nM) induced three kinds of responses in rod-type taste cells: appearance of inward current, inhibition of voltage ramp-induced outward current and enhancement of the outward current. The Ca(2+)-ionophore ionomycin (3 micr...

Ca(2+) ion channels play key roles in cell physiology and they are important drug targets. The Ca(2+) channel events are mainly measurable by fluorescent and patch clamp methods. This review summarizes the recent advances of these techniques for the detection of Ca(2+) channel events and the prospect of their new directions in the near future. Conventional bulk fluorescent methods are amenable ...

The ion channels located on the cell fine structures play an important role in the physiological functions of cell membrane. However, it is impossible to achieve precise positioning on the nanometer scale cellular microstructures by conventional patch-clamp technique, due to the 200 nm resolution limit of optical microscope. To solve this problem, we have established a high-resolution patch-cla...