Department of Cellular Cardiology, IEE BRC SLOVENSKY contactcontact

Patch clamp

Patch clamp amplifiers Axopatch 200-B (Axon Instruments), VE-2 (Alembic Instruments), stimulator IonOptix MYOPACER, micropipette puller P-97 (Sutter Instruments)      

Contact: RNDr. Ivan Zahradník, CSc.

Patch clamp is used primarily for measurements of

  • calcium currents in living isolated cardiac myocytes using the voltage clamp method
  • application of indicators, buffers and metabolites into the cytosol of cardiac myocytes
  • stimulation of cardiac myocytes to evoke local calcium release
  • measurement of passive electrical properties of cells (membrane capacitance and membrane resistance) with high sensitivity and temporal resolution
perfusion patch clamp cell3

We are interested in the modulation of activation and inactivation of calcium currents through L-type calcium channels under different conditions, and i the changes of calcium currents evoked by physiological and pathological stimuli.

The method of “field stimulation” is used to stimulate cells with external electrodes. We are interested in changes of calcium release and contractility evoked by physiological and pathological stimuli.

Measurement of membrane capacitance with high resolution is used as a tool to study the dynamics of surface membrane and t-tubules in cardiac myocytes.