Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
Investigations on Alterations of Hippocampal Circuit Function Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: November 19, 2012
Pulse-mode scanning ion conductance microscopy--a method to investigate cultured hippocampal cells
S A Mann1, G Hoffmann, A Hengstenberg
1Department of Molecular Neurobiochemistry-Electrobiochemistry of Neural Cells, Ruhr-University Bochum, NC7-170, Universitätsstr. 150, D-44780, Bochum, Germany. stefan.mann@ruht-uni-bochum.de
Abstract:
Scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM) takes advantage of the increase in the resistance which occurs if a glass microelectrode is closely approached to a poorly conducting membrane (Science 243 (1989) 641) and has been shown to be a promising technique to study membranes of living cells (Biophys J 73 (1997a) 653; J Microsc 188 (1997b) 17). Based on a newly designed set-up on top of an inverted light microscope in combination with a speed optimized low noise intracellular amplifier, a novel mode for control of the distance between the probe and surface has been developed. By application of current pulses, the change in the resistance is monitored independently from electrode drift and parasitic DC currents. We demonstrate the applicability by showing first high-resolution images of neural cells produced with the pulse-mode operated SICM.
