Basics of electrophysiology

Basics of electrophysiology
Electrophysiology is the study of the flow of ions in biological tissues, or the electrical activity in the body. It is through this electrical activity that that the body’s neurons communicate with each other, as well as with the body’s muscles and organs. The early developments of electrophysiology can be traced back to Dutch microscopist Jan Swammerdam, who in the 17th century established the basic concepts of bioelectricity.
Electrophysiology specifically focuses on measuring these currents in order to understand the function and dysfunction of neural pathways in the body. Techniques for doing this include:

1. Current clamp: This is where a current is injected into a cell to see how it responds and to measure its potential.


2. Voltage clamp: The cell’s potential is held at a chosen value so that the experimenter can measure the ionic current across the membrane of a cell at any voltage value

Role in cardiology
One of the most important aspects of electrophysiology is understanding how it affects the heart. The heart is made up of three separate parts: the pump, the plumbing and the electrical system. As the heart experiences normal electrical currents, it is able to pump blood to other vital organs. The heart has two natural pacemakers, the sinoatrial node and the atrioventricular node. However, when these are not working properly, the heart can beat too fast, too slow or irregularly. These abnormalities are called arrhythmias and they can be caused by the scarring of heart tissue through heart attacks, aging and high blood pressure, or through congenital heart defects
Electrophysiology studies
Scientists have found a way to measure electrical activity in the heart through an electrophysiology study, or EPS. By inserting a specialized electrode catheter into a blood vessel leading to your heart, doctors can send electric signals to the heart and record its activity. Not only can this test help determine the cause and location of an abnormal heart rhythm, but also the proper treatment. Such treatments could include prescribing medicine, installing a pacemaker, or selectively destroying the cells in the heart that are misfiring, resulting in the abnormal electrical signal .