A new simple approach to estimation of membrane capacitance from current responses to voltage clamp steps

Authors

ŠIMURDA Jiří ŠIMURDOVÁ Milena ŠVECOVÁ Olga

Year of publication 2020
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Medicine

Citation
Web https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610720300341?via%3Dihub
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2020.04.005
Keywords Membrane capacitance; Square wave stimulation; Evaluation method
Description A variety of techniques of cell capacitance measurement have been proposed and applied in cellular electrophysiology. They are mostly based on the evaluation of membrane current responses to small changes in the membrane voltage. One of the currently used approaches applies the least-squares fit of an exponential current decay in response to voltage clamped rectangular pulses. In this study, we propose an alternative simpler approach to evaluation of the exponential parts in the current responses to square wave stimulation and present preliminary results of membrane capacitance evaluation. It is based on the property of the exponential function that has not yet been used to measure membrane capacitance. The time constant and the asymptote of the exponential waveform are unambiguously determined by the values read at three points separated by a constant time interval. In order to minimize the effect of noise and deviations from the exponential waveform, the triplet of points is designed to slide along the time axis. The results of the proposed approach and those previously evaluated by the least squares method are comparable. The method described may be advantageous for continuously recording changes in membrane capacitance. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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