Patch Clamping Unhooked
How to record a single neuron in a moving animal
The Scientist Staff
Oct 1, 2006

Direct electrophysiological measurement of neuronal activity in living, breathing animals is challenging. Making such measurements on freely moving, behaving animals has been next to impossible. But recently a research group in The Netherlands and Germany that includes patch-clamp pioneer Bert Sakmann devised a contraption that can take whole-cell recordings from freely moving rats.
"If you want to know how a neuron does its job under real conditions, having a brain slice is a great thing, but you can't do behavior on a brain slice?...
References
1. A.K. Lee et al., "Whole-cell recordings in freely moving rats," Neuron, 51:399-407, Aug. 17, 2006.Interested in reading more?

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