Fig. 4.
Poor voltage-clamping quality remains unchanged in single dissociated astrocytes due to the low membrane resistance (Rm). A: illustration of dual-patch single-astrocyte recording from a dissociated astrocyte; the electrode at left was set up for conventional voltage-clamp recording of command voltage (Vcom)-induced membrane current (I), and the electrode at right was set up in current-clamp mode to report the actual Vcom-induced drop in Vm. B: measured I and Vm from single and syncytial coupled astrocytes. C: measured Vm and I values shown in B were used in I-Vm plots, where the overall voltage-clamping quality did not show an improvement. D: dual-patch single-astrocyte recording for accurate Rm measurement. The changes in Vcom-induced current (ΔI) and measured actual current (ΔVm) were used for Rm analysis according to the equation shown in D. E: single astrocytes showed a low RM similar to that of syncytial coupled astrocytes. Values are means ± SE; numerals on bars indicate the number of observations.