Recording macroscopic currents in large patches from Xenopus oocytes

The excised inside-out patch clamp technique gives rapid access to the intracellular surface of the plasma membrane while measuring channel activity. This way the effects of intracellular regulators of ion channels or transporters can be studied in isolation, in the absence of most of the cellular machinery. This chapter summarizes our experience with this technique using large patches to study various ion channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes.