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Related Experiment Videos

Pressure polishing: a method for re-shaping patch pipettes during fire polishing.

M B Goodman1, S R Lockery

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. mg289@columbia.edu

Journal of Neuroscience Methods
|October 21, 2000
PubMed
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Pressure polishing creates blunt-tipped, low-resistance patch pipettes for improved whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, especially from small neurons and subcellular structures.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Biophysics
  • Materials Science

Background:

  • Patch-clamp recording resolution is limited by pipette geometry and electrical properties.
  • Ideal patch pipettes require blunt, cone-shaped tips and low resistance for optimal performance.
  • Standard borosilicate glasses typically yield sharp-tipped, high-resistance pipettes, hindering recordings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a method for creating ideal patch pipettes with blunt tips and low resistance.
  • To overcome limitations imposed by glass properties on pipette fabrication for patch-clamp electrophysiology.
  • To enhance the utility of patch-clamp techniques for recording from small cellular structures.

Main Methods:

  • Developed 'pressure polishing,' a fire-polishing technique involving pressurizing the pipette lumen.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Applied pressure polishing to various glass types, including borosilicate and aluminasilicate.
  • Fabricated pipettes from thick-walled borosilicate glass with submicron tip openings and low resistance (<10 MΩ).

    • Main Results:

    • Pressure polishing successfully reshapes pipette tips to a blunt, cone shape regardless of glass type.
    • Produced patch pipettes with submicron tip openings and resistances below 10 MΩ.
    • Demonstrated efficacy in fabricating pipettes suitable for recording from tiny neurons (1-3 µm diameter).

    Conclusions:

    • Pressure polishing is an effective technique for fabricating high-performance patch pipettes.
    • This method enables patch-clamp recordings from small neurons and subcellular neuronal structures.
    • Pressure polishing offers benefits for various patch-clamp applications requiring blunt-tipped pipettes.