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NAL Agricultural Thesaurus
U.S. Department of Agriculture

Concept Breadcrumbs

Research, Technology, Methods > methodology > laboratory techniques > patch-clamp technique
Preferred Term:

patch-clamp technique

Definition:
An electrophysiologic technique for studying cells, cell membranes, and occasionally isolated organelles. All patch-clamp methods rely on a very high-resistance seal between a micropipette and a membrane; the seal is usually attained by gentle suction. The four most common variants include on-cell patch, inside-out patch, outside-out patch, and whole-cell clamp. Patch-clamp methods are commonly used to voltage clamp, that is control the voltage across the membrane and measure current flow, but current-clamp methods, in which the current is controlled and the voltage is measured, are also used.
Concept Schemes:
NALT Full
Broader Concept:
laboratory techniques
Entry Terms:
  • patch-clamp techniques
  • voltage-clamp technique
URI:
https://lod.nal.usda.gov/nalt/203622
Download this Concept:
RDF/XMLCreated 2013-08-19, last modified 2013-12-06