A low drift micropipette holder

Abstract

A novel micropipette holder has been designed to overcome the problem of drift encountered when experimenting on small preparations using patch-clamp techniques. In order to increase the stiffness and thermal stability of the system, the holder is designed such that the micropipette is clamped to a rigid quartz rod, and isolated from stresses arising in the connectors. The pressure line, made from stiff tubing, and electrical leads are firmly attached to the table and micromanipulator. This design was able to hold the micropipette tip stable to with 100 nm for more than 1 h, even with changes of 26.7 kPa (200 mmHg) in the pressure line.