Ion-selective self-referencing probes for measuring specific ion flux.

The metal vibrating probe developed in the 1970s to measure electric current is sensitive down to the micro-Amp range, but detects only net current due to flow of multiple ions and is too large to measure from single cells. Electrophysiological techniques which use glass microelectrodes such as voltage clamping can be used on single cells but are also non-specific. Ion-selective probes are glass microelectrodes containing at their tip a small amount of ionophore permeable to a particular ion. The electrode is therefore sensitive to changes in concentration of this ion. If the probe tip is moved at low frequency between two points in a concentration gradient of this ion then the electrochemical potential of the solution inside the electrode fluctuates in proportion to the size of the ion gradient. This fluctuation is amplified and recorded and is used to calculate the actual ion flux using Fick's law of diffusion. In this mini-review we describe the technique of ion-selective self-referencing microelectrodes to measure specific ion fluxes. We discuss the development of the technique and describe in detail the methodology and present some representative results.