Temperature-Evoked Channel Activation: Simultaneous Detection of Ionic Currents and Temperature

Since the cloning of the first thermosensitive TRP channel, a capsaicin receptor TRPV1, in 1997, nine thermosensitive TRP channels have been identified. Thermosensitive TRP channels can be used to detect local temperatures by expression in HEK293 cells as a kind of biosensor, as described in Chap. 21 , with a patch-clamp method. Because analyses of the thermosensitive ion channels have not yet been widely performed, the thermosensitive ion channels and detailed methods for their analysis are introduced here.