Micropipette Puller
Micropipette Puller - Related Videos
05:30
Making Patch-pipettes and Sharp Electrodes with a Programmable Puller
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Cited by 22 •
2008
This video shows how to use a programmable puller to make patch pipettes and sharp electrodes for electrophysiology. The same procedure can be used to make a variety of glass tools, including injection needles.
10:31
Micropipette Aspiration of Substrate-attached Cells to Estimate Cell Stiffness
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Cited by 30 •
2012
Here we describe a quick and simple method to measure cell stiffness. The general principle of this approach is to measure membrane deformation in response to well-defined negative pressure applied through a micropipette to the cell surface. This method provides a powerful tool to study biomechanical properties of substrate-attached cells.
07:02
Fluorescence Micropipette Aspiration Assay to Investigate Red Blood Cell Mechanosensing
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Cited by 1 •
2024
The exploration of cellular behavior under mechanical stress is pivotal for advances in cellular mechanics and mechanobiology. We introduce the Fluorescence Micropipette Aspiration (fMPA) technique, a novel method combining controlled mechanical stimulation with comprehensive analysis of intracellular signaling in single cells. This technique investigates new in-depth studies of live-cell mechanobiology.
02:44
Use of Micropipette-Guided Drug Administration as an Alternative Method to Oral Gavage in Rodent Models
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Cited by 6 •
2024
Here, we describe micropipette-guided drug administration (MDA) as an alternative method to oral gavage that incentivizes the research animal to ingest treatments readily with minimal stress and discomfort.
09:29
Obtention of Giant Unilamellar Hybrid Vesicles by Electroformation and Measurement of their Mechanical Properties by Micropipette Aspiration
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Cited by 6 •
2020
The goal of the protocol is to reliably measure membrane mechanical properties of giant vesicles by micropipette aspiration.
FAQs
Heat, pulling force, pulling velocity, and cooling conditions jointly determine how the glass elongates before separation. Heating softens a selected region, while the applied force stretches that softened section; cooling then fixes the resulting taper as the glass hardens. Adjusting these controls allows investigators to produce pipettes with different tip dimensions for distinct biological tasks.
Tip geometry is important because it changes how a micropipette behaves in an experiment. The selected dimensions can influence fluid delivery, electrical resistance, and access to an individual cell. Consequently, a geometry suited to patch-clamp electrophysiology may not serve the same purpose as one intended for microinjection or cell isolation, even though both originate from glass capillary tubing.
Cooling conditions help determine how the softened glass settles into its final tapered form. Because the glass elongates while hot and separates as it cools, changing the cooling conditions can alter the resulting tip dimensions. This makes cooling a controllable part of micropipette fabrication, allowing investigators to adjust the finished pipette for particular biological measurements and manipulations.
Heat and pulling cannot be treated as independent choices: the glass must be sufficiently softened for the applied force to elongate the selected region. Pull strength and velocity then influence how that softened section tapers before cooling. Coordinating these parameters helps investigators target tip dimensions that balance the needs of fluid delivery, electrical resistance, and cellular access.
Researchers place a glass capillary tube in the instrument, select the region to be heated, and set the desired heat, pull strength, velocity, and cooling conditions. The instrument softens the chosen region and applies controlled force, after which the elongated glass cools and separates into two tapered pipettes. Each resulting pipette can then be selected for a biological application.
In patch-clamp electrophysiology, the pipette provides access to an individual cell while its geometry influences electrical resistance. Researchers therefore adjust the pulling conditions to obtain tip dimensions appropriate for the measurement. The resulting pipette supports precise electrical manipulation and measurement at the cellular level, linking fabrication settings directly to the requirements of electrophysiological experiments.
Their fine, tailored tips allow researchers to manipulate very small biological samples with precise spatial control. For microinjection, geometry can influence fluid delivery into or around a cell. In cell isolation, the same ability to work at individual-cell scale supports controlled handling, while the chosen tip dimensions remain matched to the specific manipulation or sample-handling task.