Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Federico José Barreda Tomás
Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Institute for Integrative Neuroanatomy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Institute for Integrative Neuroanatomy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Dynamics of excitable cells and networks depend on the membrane time constant, set by membrane resistance and capacitance. Whereas pharmacological and genetic manipulations of ionic conductances of excitable membranes are routine in electrophysiology, experimental control over capacitance remains a challenge. Here, we present capacitance clamp, an approach that allows electrophysiologists to mimic a modified capacitance in biological neurons via an unconventional application of the dynamic clamp technique. We first demonstrate the feasibility to quantitatively modulate capacitance in a mathematical neuron model and then confirm the functionality of capacitance clamp in in vitro experiments in granule cells of rodent dentate gyrus with up to threefold virtual capacitance changes. Clamping of capacitance thus constitutes a novel technique to probe and decipher mechanisms of neuronal signaling in ways that were so far inaccessible to experimental electrophysiology.
