Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
5-31-1984
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering - (M.S.)
Department
Electrical Engineering
First Advisor
Stanley S. Reisman
Second Advisor
Joseph Frank
Third Advisor
Robert R. Meola
Abstract
An instrument has been designed and constructed which measures the ion flux through biological tissues utilizing the short circuit current technique. The system operates in three major modes: 1) obtains the fluid resistance and potential offsets of a chamber without the tissue mounted; 2) Voltage clamp mode - clamps the potential of the tissue to a predetermined value; 3) Current clamp mode - clamps the current through the tissue to a predetermined value. The system automatically compensates for fluid resistance and potential offsets in both voltage and current clamp modes. The instrument starts clamping a particular chamber immediately after mounting the tissue. The sampling rate ranges from 6 seconds to 10 minutes, or any other value the user desires, and can be changed at any time during the experiment.
The user initializes the system with inputs such as the experiment title, time, date, number of chambers, potential or current to clamp to, etc. The user has the option to edit any of the initializing parameters.
The experimental data is collected, displayed on the screen, and saved on disk. At the end of an experiment all the data can be printed out immediately or at some future time.
A calibrating routine enables the user to easily calibrate the instrument.
The system is flexible in that the control parameters can be easily changed during the experiment and the control program can also be changed. The instrument is also easy to use.
Experiments performed on laboratory rats show the instruments ability to detect glucose, phloridzin, and 3-isobuty1-1-methyl-xanthine electrical changes in biological tissues. 10 mM sodium cyanide added to the tissue abolishes the short-circuit current which shows that the instrument is measuring active ion transport.
Recommended Citation
Obenauer, John Edward, "Instrumentation to measure ion flux through biological tissues" (1984). Theses. 3637.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/3637
