Making, Testing, and Using Potassium Ion Selective Microelectrodes in Tissue Slices of Adult Brain

J Vis Exp. 2018 May 7:(135):57511. doi: 10.3791/57511.

Abstract

Potassium ions significantly contribute to the resting membrane potential of cells and, therefore, extracellular K+ concentration is a crucial regulator of cell excitability. Altered concentrations of extracellular K+ affect the resting membrane potential and cellular excitability by shifting the equilibria between closed, open and inactivated states for voltage-dependent ion channels that underlie action potential initiation and conduction. Hence, it is valuable to directly measure extracellular K+ dynamics in health and diseased states. Here, we describe how to make, calibrate and use monopolar K+-selective microelectrodes. We deployed them in adult hippocampal brain slices to measure electrically evoked K+ concentration dynamics. The judicious use of such electrodes is an important part of the tool-kit needed to evaluate cellular and biophysical mechanisms that control extracellular K+ concentrations in the nervous system.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / cytology
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Electric Stimulation / instrumentation*
  • Electric Stimulation / methods
  • Hippocampus / cytology
  • Hippocampus / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Microelectrodes*
  • Potassium / metabolism*

Substances

  • Potassium