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Cut-Open Oocyte Voltage-Clamp Technique

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Encyclopedia of Biophysics

Introduction

The cut-open oocyte Vaseline gap (COVG) voltage clamp technique, a relatively recent addition to the electrophysiologist’s armamentarium, was specifically developed by Drs. Stefani and Bezanilla (Bezanilla et al. 1991) to achieve low-noise recordings of the membrane of Xenopus laevis oocytes with fast clamp speed and thus optimize the most popular transient expression system to reveal the activity voltage-dependent proteins previously difficult to resolve by alternative methods. The high degree of specialization of this technique is complemented by its flexibility; in addition to oocyte perfusion, COVG can be combined with optical measurements (voltage clamp fluorometry and spectroscopy) and flash photolysis for the instantaneous release of intracellular caged compounds, expanding its use beyond electrophysiology.

Historical Points

During the cloning era, the oocytes of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) emerged as a powerful biological tool, as their large size (≈1...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Antonios Pantazis & Riccardo Olcese

  2. Division of Neurobiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKE), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Antonios Pantazis

  3. Wallenberg Center for Molecular Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Antonios Pantazis

  4. Department of Physiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Riccardo Olcese

  5. Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Riccardo Olcese

  6. Cardiovascular Research Laboratories, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Riccardo Olcese

Authors
  1. Antonios Pantazis
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  2. Riccardo Olcese
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Riccardo Olcese .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Leicester MRC Centre, Leicester, UK

    Gordon Roberts

  2. Dept Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Anthony Watts

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© 2019 European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA)

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Pantazis, A., Olcese, R. (2019). Cut-Open Oocyte Voltage-Clamp Technique. In: Roberts, G., Watts, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Biophysics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_371-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_371-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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