[Possible applications of the "patch-clamp" method in anesthesiologic research; comment].

The patch clamp technique has gained considerable significance during the past two decades since it was developed. Many mechanisms of cell function have been elucidated by the application of the patch clamp method because it was now possible to demonstrate and investigate directly single ion channels in excitable cell membranes. An important discovery, as far as medicine was concerned, was that various clinically used substances interact directly with ion channels. Local anaesthetics, antiarrhythmics, antidiabetics, muscle relaxants are a few examples. For these reasons, more and more clinical physicians use the patch clamp method for their specific investigations. Collaboration between a clinical institute and a basic research department can often be found, which gives clinical research more background and basic science more practical aspects.