The use of the tip potential of glass microelectrodes in the determination of low cell membrane potentials

Abstract

The tip potential of Ling-Gerard glass microelectrodes changes upon insertion into cells and thus impedes the determination of the actual membrane potential. The lower the membrane potential of a cell, the larger will be the error due to this tip potential. However, as is demonstrated, a relationship exists between the tip potential of the electrode and the measured potential difference, which allows the determination of the membrane potential of a particular cell type by linear regression. This method showed that resting lymphocytes had no membrane potential, whereas for the slime mould Dictyostelitium discoideum a membrane potential of about -9 mV could be calculated.