Tag Archives: extracellular

Extracellular (bath) solution for whole-cell patch-clamp in GLUTag cells

This solution is needed to keep cells in a physiological environment during patch-clamp experiments. It also contains glucose as a nutrient.

Chemical mM MW/concentration for 1 L for 500 ml for 500 ml 10X
NaCl 138 58.44 8.065 g 4.0325 g 40.325 g
KCl 4.5 74.55 0.335 g 0.1675 g 1.675 g
NaHCO3 4.2 84.01 0.3528 g 0.1764 g 1.764 g
NaH2PO4 1.2 120 0.144 g 0.072 g 0.72 g
CaCl2 2.6 1 M 2.6 ml 1.3 ml
MgCl2 2.6 1 M 1.2 ml 0.6 ml 6 ml
HEPES 10 238.3 2.382 g 1.1915 g 11.915 g

Glucose: 1 mM (18 MG/100 ml)
pH 7.4 using NaOH
For a 500 ml 1X solution, I added 2.4 ml of NaOH at 1 M concentration.

Add CaCl2 and adjust the pH when the solution concentration is 1X.
Add glucose to the solution needed on the day, usually 50 ml.

Always check the molecular weight on the bottles of the chemicals. It may vary, due to different water contents for example.

Reference

Rogers et al., Electrical activity-triggered glucagon-like peptide-1
secretion from primary murine L-cells, J. Physiol., 2011
Link to the article in PubMed