Electrophysiology Project Overview

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Electrophysiology Project Overview
By Arif Patel, Chris Khalil, and Arlene Pineda

• Experiments performed on the neurons of the
  crab stomatogastric ganglion (STG) have shown
  that the measured value of capacitance of the
  cell depends on the electrophysiological method
  used to measure it. This dependence may be due to
  the branching architecture of STG neurons.
  Compartmental models were created in conjunction
  with electrophysiological experimentation in
  order to test this hypothesis.

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Electrical Circuit Representation of Cell
Membranes

• This project entails a study of the passive
  properties of cell membranes (i.e. the linear
  relationship between the conductance and the
  voltage of the cell).
• Passivity can be obtained by applying the
  neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, which blocks action
  potentials by binding to voltage gated sodium
  channels.

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Electrophysiological Methods
Current Clamp
Voltage Clamp
Voltage Ramp
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Dual-Compartmental Model