The Patch Clamp Files - Les Histoires...

There have been some fine reviews on the history of electrophysiology and the patch clamp technique published in the last five years or so. I've only recently taken an interest in the subject myself, and what easily impresses me the most is just how early the initial idea of "animal electricity" came about. I think it's a shame that most graduate and undergraduate course don't include this rich history in their coverage of the action potential &c. Much beyond a few references to Hodgkin and Huxley, I mean. Perhaps I'm just a romantic, but there's something appealing about the thought of Victorian gentlemen, in the era of Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein and Nikola Tesla, grappling with the arcane mysteries of physiology.

The following reviews cover some of the same ground, but often with differing levels of detail, so they're all worth a gander.

From Galvani to patch clamp: the development of electrophysiology
Alexei Verkhratsky et al. (2006) Pflugers Arch. 453, 233-247

Luigi Galvan's path to animal electricity
Marco Piccolino (2006) C. R. Biol. 329, 303-318

Pflügers Archiv and the advent of modern electrophysiology
Bernd Nilius (2003) Pflugers Arch. 447, 267-271

Fifty years of the Hodgkin-Huxley era
Marco Piccolino (2002) Trends Neurosci. 25, 552-553


Left: Diagram of a double differential rheotome, from DW Samways, 1885, J. Physiol.














Side note, DW Samways was a collaborator with Professor L Hermann, the latter of whom played a significant role in the further development of the differential rheotome; a device first used by Julius Bernstein to record the first action potential. The review by Bernd Nilius provides a good explanation for how the differential rheotome works.