Calibration of ion-selective microelectrodes

Measurements of intracellular and extracellular ion activities with ion-selective microelectrodes generally involve calibration of the electrodes in solutions of known composition and fitting of the calibration data with a theoretical expression. The Nicolsky equation is frequently used to describe the variation of electrode potential with primary ion activity in the presence of a constant amount of interference. In this report, we review the estimation of primary ion activities in calibration solutions and discuss the practical use of the Nicolsky equation. We describe a specialized computer program, developed in this laboratory, for routine input and editing of calibration data, fitting of data with the Nicolsky equation, and calculation of experimental ion activities from the fitted curve. Earlier versions of this program have proven helpful in several investigations in this and in other laboratories.