title: Fluorescent labeling for patch-clamp fluorometry (PCF) measurements of real-time protein motion in ion channels.
abstract: Understanding the function of ion channels is a major goal of molecular neurophysiology. While standard electrophysiological methods are invaluable tools to investigate the gating of ion channels, the structural rearrangements that mediate the way a channel senses physiological signals and opens and closes its gates cannot be measured electrically in a direct way. Here, we describe a method, based on site-specific labeling of a channel of interest with an environmentally sensitive fluorophore, which makes it possible to monitor conformational changes of ion channels in biological membranes in real time.
authors.affiliation: Research Center Caesar, Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2, 53175, Bonn, Germany, Thomas.Berger@caesar.de.
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Ehud Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Isacoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005470:Fluorometry; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D021381:Protein Transport; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000737:chemistry*; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: C114557:5-carboxytetramethylrhodamine succinimidyl ester; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007473:Ion Channels; D012235:Rhodamines