Topic: whole cell patch clamp

The overload of glutamate transporters by excessive extracellular glutamate leads to excitotoxic cell death in multiple neurodegenerative diseases as well as stroke, hypoxia and traumatic brain injury. The sustained activation of extrasynaptic N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors by excess extracellular glutamate has been implicated in multiple disease models in vitro and in vivo. Pathological levels of extracellular glutamate arise from compromised or even reversed function of excitatory amino acid transports (EAATs) in a brain region and subtype dependent manner. We have used whole cell pat

Astrocytes play a fundamental role in numerous neural processes. In this study, we present preliminary data from ex vivo human cortical astrocytes obtained from Temporal lobe resections for epilepsy treatment and examined using whole cell patch clamp and 2-photon imaging techniques. Calcium (Ca2+) imaging reveals that these astrocytes exhibit a high frequency of Ca2+ transients in their fine processes compared to whole-cell responses, a finding consistent with astrocyte activity recorded in rodents. While the morphology of human astrocytes bore similarities to their rodent counterparts, they d