An automatic device for determining threshold variations in antidromically activated neurons.

Abstract

A device was designed and constructed with the purpose of evaluating threshold variations for antidromic invasion of extracellularly recorded neurons. Identification of a neuron is carried out by two procedures, an amplitude discriminator, which isolates the spike from the baseline noise, and by a latency window which is set accordingly to the neuron's antidromic latency. During threshold evaluation, the duration of an electric pulse applied to the neuron's axon is automatically varied depending on the presence or not of an action potential. For a given spike, the stimulus is progressively decreased (-delta i) up to a point where the neuron ceases to respond and thereafter, the stimulus amplitude is progressively increased (+delta i) until slightly suprathreshold values are obtained. The procedure guarantees a discharge probability of the neuron equivalent to 50% of all applied stimuli, and the simple monitoring of the stimulus amplitude is enough to obtain the threshold value for a predetermined intensity. The reliability of this device was checked in studies related to threshold variations in neurons antidromically driven in prefrontal cortex following stimulation of the ipsi and contralateral olfactory bulb. Variations in excitability were found during and following tetanic stimulation and throughout the axon's supernormal conduction period. This technique allows the assessment of threshold variations in antidromic driving, not only in the present experimental design, but also in other conditions induced by changes in extracellular ionic concentrations, drug applications or in those produced by excitatory or inhibitory synaptic activity on the neuron under study.