The process begins with the preparation of a thin glass micropipette, which is carefully pulled to a fine tip of about one micrometer in diameter. The micropipette is filled with a conductive solution, and its tip is gently brought into contact with the cell membrane. A slight suction is applied to achieve a high-resistance seal, known as a "gigaseal," between the pipette and the membrane.
Once the seal is established, different configurations can be used to study various aspects of ion channel behavior. The most common configurations include the cell-attached, whole-cell, inside-out, and outside-out patch configurations. Each configuration allows for specific types of measurements and manipulations of the ion channels.
