Method for manipulation of cytosolic pH in cells clamped in the whole cell or perforated-patch configurations

A number of methods have been developed to manipulate the intracellular pH (pHi) of intact cells. However, such methods are not applicable when cells are studied using the patch-clamp technique, due to the continuity of the cell interior with the recording pipette. The perfused-pipette method can be used to modify pHi in the whole cell configuration, but this approach is slow, technically demanding, and not useful in the case of the perforated-patch configuration. In this report, we introduce a simple procedure that enables the investigator to predictably and reversibly alter pHi in cells clamped in either the whole cell or perforated-patch modes. The method is based on the provision of a virtually unlimited reservoir of an intracellular H+ (equivalent) donor/acceptor system, by inclusion of large concentrations of permeable weak electrolytes in the pipette solution. This system not only provides a means for the imposition and maintenance of a chosen pHi but, by changing the external concentration of the weak electrolyte, enables the investigator to rapidly and reversibly change pHi or the transmembrane delta pH during the course of an experiment. The effectiveness of the procedure was validated in peritoneal macrophages by two methods: 1) direct measurement of pHi in single cells by fluorescence ratio determinations and 2) estimation of the reversal potential of H(+)-selective currents. The pHi clamping procedure is shown to be effective using either organic or inorganic weak bases in the whole cell configuration. In addition, because NH+4/NH3 can readily permeate the pores formed by nystatin or amphotericin, the method is also shown to apply to the perforated-patch configuration.