Neurons are team players, working together in larger ensembles, but monitoring their activity with intracellular recordings is challenging in vivo. Kodandaramaiah et al. developed a robot that can simultaneously record from up to four neurons at a time. Their multipatcher is an extension of their previously described autopatcher, both of which establish patch-clamp recordings without visual guidance. The multipatcher is equipped with four patch pipettes that independently hunt for neurons. Once a pipette is in close contact with a neuron, all other pipettes cease movement, and the initial pipette is directed to establish a gigaseal. The other pipettes then continue hunting for neurons. When all pipettes have either formed a gigaseal or been inactivated because of clogging, they are instructed to break into the neurons and start recording. The researchers obtained dual or triple recordings in 29% of trials in anesthetized mice and in 18% of trials in awake mice.
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A four-armed patch-clamping robot. Nat Methods 15, 164 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4618
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4618