From Bernstein's rheotome to Neher-Sakmann's patch electrode. The action potential.

Edward Carmeliet

doi:10.14814/phy2.13861

Abstract

The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the most important stages in the development of cellular electrophysiology. The period covered starts with Bernstein's formulation of the membrane hypothesis and the measurement of the nerve and muscle action potential. Technical innovations make discoveries possible. This was the case with the use of the squid giant axon, allowing the insertion of “large” intracellular electrodes and derivation of transmembrane potentials. Application of the newly developed voltage clamp method for measuring ionic currents, resulted in the formulation of the ionic theory. At the same time transmembrane measurements were made possible in smaller cells by the introduction of the microelectrode. An improvement of this electrode was the next major (r)evolution. The patch electrode made it possible to descend to the molecular level and record single ionic channel activity. The patch technique has been proven to be exceptionally versatile. In its whole‐cell configuration it was the solution to measure voltage clamp currents in small cells. See also: https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.13860 & https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.13862

Highlights

Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of
Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of 2019 | Vol 7 | Iss. 1 | e13861
In this respect I may cite some remarks that I found in the memoir on Cole by Andrew Huxley and that illustrate the intellectual and scientific honesty of the Cambridge authors : “These records showed qualitatively all the main features that Hodgkin and I found in our experiments in 1948 and 1949: they showed an appreciable lag between the step of membrane potential and the rise of the transient inward current . . .Later we fully confirmed the genuine feature of the membrane response, and it was an important factor in determining the formulation that we adopted in our mathematical representation of the permeability changes

Summary

Introduction

Young had no problems convincing Alan Hodgkin, GB, Cambridge and Kenneth Cole, United States, Columbia College, who were going to be competitors in the scientific race to the ionic theory of the action potential. After his return to Great Britain from the stay in the United States, Alan Hodgkin, the Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge, asked Physiology Undergraduate Andrew Huxley (Fig. 7) to join him during the summer 1939 in Plymouth for research on the giant axon.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion