The Axon Guide
For Electrophysiology & Biophysics: laboratory Techniques
The Axon Guide for Electrophysiology & Biophysics is a practical laboratory guide covering a broad range of topics, from the biological basis of bioelectricity and a description of the basic experimental setup, to the principles of operation of the most advanced hardware and software currently available. The Axon Guide has been a huge hit since its release many years ago, but unfortunately it is out of print. If you don't already have your copy, the Axon Guide is now available for download in PDF format.
This is a complete copy of the original Axon Guide, so some items are out-of-date, in particular the computer and software information.
The Axon Guide
Copyright © 1993 Axon Instruments, Inc. All rights reserved.Tip: We recommend that you right-click on the link, and choose "Save Target As..." (Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As..." (Netscape) to download the file.
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Chapter List
Chapter 1: Bioelectricity
Electrical Potentials, Electrical Currents, Resistors and Conductors, Ohm's Law, The Voltage Divider, Perfect and Real Electrical Instruments, Ions in Solutions and Electrodes, Capacitors and Their Electrical Fields, Currents Through Capacitors, Current Clamp and Voltage Clamp, Glass Microelectrodes and Tight Seals
Chapter 2: The Laboratory Setup
The in vitro Extracellular Recording Setup, The Single-Channel Patch Clamping Setup, Vibration Isolation Methods, Electrical Isolation Methods, Equipment Placement, List of Equipment
Chapter 3: Instrumentation for Measuring Bioelectric Signals from Cells
Extracellular RecordingSingle-Cell Recording, Multiple-Cell Recording
Intracellular Recording - Current Clamp
Voltage Follower, Bridge Balance, Junction Potentials, Track, Current Monitor, Headstage Current Gain, Capacitance Compensation, Transient Balance, Leakage Current, Headstages for Ion-Sensitive Microelectrodes, Bath Error Potentials, Cell Penetration: Mech. Vibration, Buzz and Clear, Command Generation
Intracellular Recording - Voltage Clamp
Large Cells - Two-Electrode Voltage Clamp, Small Cells - Disc. Single-Electrode Voltage Clamp, Discontinuous Current Clamp (DCC), Continuous Single-Electrode Voltage Clamp, Series Resistance Compensation, Pipette-Capacitance Compensation, Whole-Cell Capacitance Compensation, Rupturing the Patch, Which One Should You Use: dSEVC or cSEVC?, Space Clamp Considerations
Single-Channel Patch Clamp
The Importance of a Good Seal, Resistor Feedback Technology, Capacitor Feedback Technology, Special Considerations for Bilayer Experiments, How Fast is "Fast"?, Measurement of Changes in Membrane Capacitance, Seal and Pipette Resistance Measurement, Micropipette Holders
Current Conventions and Voltage Conventions
Definitions, Whole-Cell Voltage and Current Clamp, Patch Clamp, Summary
Chapter 4: Microelectrodes and Micropipettes
Microelectrodes, Micropipettes and Pipette Solutions; Fabrication of Patch Pipettes, Pipette Properties: Single-Channel vs. Whole-Cell, Types of Glasses and Their Properties, Thermal Properties of Glasses, Noise Properties of Glasses, Leachable Components
Chapter 5: Advanced Methods in Electrophysiology
Recording from Xenopus Oocytes, Patch-Clamp Recording in Brain Slices, Macropatch and Loose-Patch Recording, The Giant Excised Membrane Patch Method, Recording from Perforated Patches and Perforated Vesicles, Enhanced Planar Bilayer Techniques for Single-Channel Recording
Chapter 6: Signal Conditioning and Signal Conditioners
Why Should Signals Be Filtered?, Fundamentals of Filtering, Filter Terminology, Preparing Signals for A/D Conversion, Averaging, Line-Frequency Pick-Up (Hum), Peak-to-Peak and rms Noise Measurements, Blanking, Audio Monitor - Friend or Foe?, Electrode Test, Common-Mode Rejection Ratio
Chapter 7: Transducers
Temperature Transducers for Physiological Temperature Measurement, Temperature Transducers for Extended Temperature Ranges, Electrode Resistance and Cabling Affect Noise and Bandwidth, High Electrode Impedance Can Produce Signal Attenuation, Unmatched Electrode Impedances Increase Background Noise and Crosstalk, High Electrode Impedance Contributes to the Thermal Noise of the System, Cable Capacitance Filters Out the High-Frequency Component of the Signal, Bridge Design for Pressure and Force Measurements; Metal Microelectrodes, EMG, EEG, EKG and Neural Recording; Pressure Measurements, Force Measurements, Acceleration Measurements, Length Measurements, Self-Heating Measurements, Isolation Measurements, Insulation Techniques, Suggested Manufacturers and Suppliers of Transducers
Chapter 8: Laboratory Computer Issues and Considerations
Select the Software First, How Much Computer Do You Need?, Peripherals and Options, I/O Interfaces, Compatibility Problems, Recommended Computer Configurations, Glossary
Chapter 9: Acquisition Hardware
Fundamentals of Data Conversion, Quantization Error, Choosing the Sampling Rate, Converter Buzzwords, Data Formats, Deglitched DAC Outputs, DMA, Memory Buffered, I/O Driven; Interrupts, Timers, Digital I/O, Optical Isolation, Operating Under Multi-Tasking Operating Systems, Software Support; PC, Macintosh and PS/2 Considerations; Archival Storage (Backup)
Chapter 10: Data Analysis
Choosing Appropriate Acquisition Parameters, Filtering at Analysis Time, Integrals and Derivatives, Single-Channel Analysis, Fitting
Chapter 11: Development Environments
AxoBASIC, A Programming Example, Comparison Between AxoBASIC and BASIC-23, Future Directions
Chapter 12: Noise in Electrophysiological Measurements
Thermal Noise, Shot Noise, Dielectric Noise, Excess Noise, Amplifier Noise, Electrode Noise, Seal Noise, Noise in Whole-Cell Voltage Clamping, External Noise Sources, Digitization Noise, Aliasing, Filtering, Summary of Patch-Clamp Noise, Limits of Patch-Clamp Noise Performance