Electrophysiology Project Overview

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.

By Arif Patel, Chris Khalil, and Arlene Pineda

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.

Electrophysiological MethodsCurrent Clamp: Voltage Clamp:

Voltage Ramp:

Dual-Compartmental Model