I currently encounter severe potential drifts (~ 30 mv) for my sharp electrodes (~ 20 MOhm) during intracellular recordings. The electrodes are filled with 3M potassium acetate and I use proven saline for the experimental environment (mM: 115 NaCl, 4 KCl, 1.8 CaCl2, 10 Glucose,
4.6 Tris–maleate, 5.4 Tris base, buffered at pH 7.4).
Through a series of pretests I can exclude the following (typical) potential reasons/problems:
- coating of wires/ground
- basically everything setup-related, such as amplifier, headstage, and electrode holder, as the drifts appear in multiple setups
- electrode puller/ quality & shape of the glass electrodes
- Quality of the potassium acetate
These pretests and the flattening course of the potential drifts suggest that an exchange of ions happens between the potassium acetate of the electrode and the saline. Does anyone have an idea of what else I could check for? E.g. would it be conceivable that the chemicals used for preparing the experimental saline might be too old to cause such drifts?
Thanks in advance for any feedback!
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