A Temperature-Controlled Patch Clamp Platform Demonstrated on Jurkat T Lymphocytes and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neurons

Journal article

Effective temperature control is crucial in many studies of isolated biological tissues, with preparations often requiring specialized holding chambers. In these situations, the design flexibility and optimizations offered by a custom made temperature controller may be preferable over a commercial model. We present a versatile controller for heating and cooling applications, providing simple step-by-step instructions to mathematically model your specific system and optimize controller parameters. The apparatus uses analog components and linear stages to simplify circuit comprehension and customization, achieving fast transitions with small static errors and overshoots over a wide range of temperatures without readjustment. A fully featured rackable enclosure is complemented by two temperature probes based on the LMT70A linear microchip sensor (for the control loop and for bath monitoring). BNC outputs provide scaled probe signals for continuous temperature data acquisition. The maximum achievable power output of the controller is -23.5 W/+22.0 W (-4.7 V/+4.4 V, \ub15.0 A), sufficient to bring a well designed holder for standard 35 mm chambers from 23 \ub0C up to 37 \ub0C in ~1 min and down to 3 \ub0C in ~4 min. Any biologist with some technical prowess should be able to follow our instructions from modeling to assembly and calibration

Authors: Harberts, J; Kusch, M; O'Sullivan, J; Zierold, R; Blick, RH

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: MDPI
• Journal: Bioengineering
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 46-46
• Publication date: 2020-05-22
• DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering7020046
• EISSN: 2306-5354
• ISSN: 2306-5354
• Language: English
• Keywords: Materials science; Gating; Patch clamp; Induced pluripotent stem cell; Medicine; Ion channel; Biophysics; Electrophysiology; Current clamp; Voltage clamp; Clamp; Jurkat cells; Neuroscience; Biomedical engineering; T cell; Biology; Clamping; Computer science