title: Microstructured apertures in planar glass substrates for ion channel research.
abstract: We have developed planar glass chip devices for patch clamp recording. Glass has several key advantages as a substrate for planar patch clamp devices. It is a good dielectric, is well-known to interact strongly with cell membranes and is also a relatively in-expensive material. In addition, it is optically neutral. However, microstructuring processes for glass are less well established than those for silicon-based substrates. We have used ion-track etching techniques to produce micron-sized apertures into borosilicate and quartz-glass coverslips. These apertures, which can be easily produced in arrays, have been used for high resolution recording of single ion channels as well as for whole-cell current recordings from mammalian cell lines. An additional attractive application that is greatly facilitated by the combination of planar geometry with the optical neutrality of the substrate is single-molecule fluorescence recording with simultaneous single-channel measurements.
authors.affiliation: Nanion Technologies GmbH, München, Germany.
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fertig
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: Michèle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klau
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tilke
authors.forename: Constanze
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sobotta
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Blick
authors.forename: Jan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Behrends
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D005898:Glass; D006096:Gramicidin / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D007477:Ions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000378:metabolism; D036103:Nanotechnology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques / Q000379:methods; D011791:Quartz; D012825:Silicon; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D007477:Ions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D006096:Gramicidin; D011791:Quartz; D012825:Silicon