AJP - Cell Physiology, Vol 232, Issue 5 207-C210, Copyright © 1977 by American Physiological Society
Modifications of glass microelectrodes: a self-filling and a semifloating glass microelectrode
K. Sato
A simple and inexpensive method for constructing a double capillary was
developed for preparing a self-filling glass microelectrode. The modified
method uses a thin capillary instead of a bundle of glass fibers and fuses
it to the outer capillary wall with flame before pulling the latter with a
puller. The validity of the new electrode was proven by measuring the
proximal cell PD of the rat kidney slices (mean of the stable cell PDs
lasting longer than 30 min,--69 mV). A semifloating electrode was modified
from the original floating electrode to be applicable to the in vivo kidney
preparation whose pulsatile and respiratory movements had hindered yielding
a stable cell PD. This electrode is constructed simply by replacing the
shaft of the Ling-Gerard glass microelectrode with a length of flexible
silcone-rubber tubing. The cell PD recorded by this electrode is found to
be more stable and can withstand minor tissue distortion in mammalian
kidney cells in vivo and also in such a contractile tissue as the secretory
coil of the eccrine sweat gland.
