patch clamp The patch clamping technique is refined from the voltage clamp technique, wherein a blunt electrode is placed on the surface of the cell membrane. It is a common intracellular recording technique in electrophysiology that allows either the measurement of current passing through individual ion channels in cells or through whole cells. Suction is applied via the blunt electrode (glass pipette in classical patch clamp technique) to create a high resistance (gigaohm) between the electrode and cell surface. This seal isolates the ion channels within the patch from the rest of the membrane and allows the neurophysiologist to record only from these ion channels. microelectrode measurement