Describe 2 ways that have been used to estimate unitary cond

Describe 2 ways that have been used to estimate unitary conductance of nicotinic receptor channels.

Solution

the ways to measure conductance of any receptor channels or ion channels is through patch clamp technique. there are 3 variants of the patch clamp tehcnicque. I will discuss 2 of them here:

whole cell recording: In this type of patch clamp technique the data is stored on a magnetic tape. It can record the flow of current through the entire cell membrane. In this more suction is applied on the membrane to rupture the patch. it is good because the tip of electrode is large so it allows less resistance.

Outside out patches: In this technique, the extracellular membrane of the cell is on the outside of the patch of the membrane. its advantage is that we can study even the single ion channels that are exposed to the external environment and to study it in isolation. if that is what the patch contains,