A gigaohm seal is the high electrical resistance contact between the glass rim and cell membrane, also called a gigaseal. It suppresses a bypass route around the membrane patch; it does not make the membrane patch itself impermeable. The 1981 methods used pulled, coated and heat-polished pipettes, a chlorided silver electrode and a pressure connection. Clean glass and suction supported tight seals; coating reduced pipette-to-bath capacitance and recording noise, rather than being required for sealing.[ref]
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