The dual-cell voltage clamp technique is a specialized variation of the two electrode voltage clamp, and is only used in the study of gap junction channels. Gap junctions are pores that directly link two cells through which ions and small molecules flow freely. When two cells in which gap junction proteins, typically connexins or innexins, are expressed, either endogenously or via injection of mRNA, a junction channel will form between the cells. Since two cells are present in the system, two sets of electrodes are used. A recording electrode and a current injecting electrode are inserted into each cell, and each cell is clamped individually (each set of electrodes is attached to a separate apparatus, and integration of data is performed by computer). To record junctional conductance, the current is varied in the first cell while the recording electrode in the second cell records any changes in Vm for the second cell only. (The process can be reversed with the stimulus occurring in the second cell and recording occurring in the first cell.) Since no variation in current is being induced by the electrode in the recorded cell, any change in voltage must be induced by current crossing into the recorded cell, through the gap junction channels, from the cell in which the current was varied.