Stim Misc

Chain – define a stimulus protocol as a stimulus “chain” by clicking the chain checkbox true. A table will appear, where you can enter the stimulus names and the time to wait in milliseconds after running each stimulus. You can save this stimulus chain like any other stimulus.

Stats – compute online statistics by clicking the stats checkbox true. Use NeuroMatic’s Stats Tab to define your measurement windows, and NeuroMatic’s Channel Selector to define the channel you wish to measure. After defining your measurement windows, save your stimulus protocol to save these values for future use. Measurements will appear on the channel display graph as well as NeuroMatic’s online stats display. Stat waves will be saved in your current NeuroMatic data folder with prefix “ST_”, just as any other Stats wave.

Spike – compute an online spike raster by clicking the spike checkbox true. Use NeuroMatic’s Spike Tab to define your measurement windows, and NeuroMatic’s Channel Selector to define the channel you wish to measure. After defining your measurement windows, save your stimulus protocol to save these values for future use. Measurements will appear on the channel display graph as well as NeuroMatic’s online spike raster display. Spike raster waves will be saved in your current NeuroMatic data folder with prefix “SP_”, just as any other Spike wave.

File name suffix / stim suffix – a short name / tag appended to the end of the current data file name. This suffix makes it easier to indentify what stimulus was used to acquire a particular data file.

Wave name prefix – the prefix name for the acquired data. Default is “Record”.

Analysis

When adding inter-acquisition functions, you should test your stimulus protocols to make sure the analysis is not slowing down acquisition (see CT_TimeStamp and CT_TimeIntvl waves inside your data folders).

Available pre-acquisition analysis functions:

TModeCheck – check if the telegraph mode matches the acquisition mode of your stimulus protocol (i.e. V-clamp, I-fast, etc.).

ReadTemp – read a temperature sensor. Value is saved to the Notes variable F_Temp.

Available inter-acquisition analysis functions:

OnlineAvg – compute the online average of a channel.

TempRead – read temperature sensor. Values are saved to wave CT_Temp and an over-all average to the Notes variable F_Temp.

Rstep – compute resistance of a current or voltage step response (Vin / Iout) or (Vout / Iin). Use this function, for example, to compute the resistance of your electrodes when placed in the external bath.

If you wish to make your own analysis function, your function will need to accept a numerical flag, or mode selector, which NeuroMatic automatically passes at the appropriate time (see Windows > Other Windows > NM_ClampUtility.ipf > OnlineAvg). The flags are defined as follows:

(-1) kill function. When this flag is passed, your function should kill waves and variables associated with your function. This flag is passed once the function has been removed from an analysis popup menu.

(0) run function. When this flag is passed, your function should execute the analysis you wish to perform. The time this flag is passed depends on which analysis popup menu the function is added to (pre, inter, post).

(1) config function. When this flag is passed, your function should initialize / create global variables and prompt for user input if necessary. This flag is passed once the function has been added to an analysis popup menu.

(2) init function. When this flag is passed, your function should initialize any necessary variables and waves before acquisition. This flag is passed just before acquisition starts.