Preface p. xii
Electricity p. 1
Electrical Quantities p. 1
Electric Charge, Current and Potential p. 1
Resistance p. 2
Capacitance p. 4
Magnetism p. 5
Self-Inductance p. 5
Direct and Alternating Current; Frequency p. 7
Reactance p. 8
Current and Voltage Sources p. 9
Components, Unwanted Properties p. 10
Unwanted Properties, Impedance p. 13
Cables p. 16
Circuits, Schematics, Kirchoff's Laws p. 17
Composition of Similar Components: Attenuators p. 19
Practical Voltage Sources and Current Sources p. 22
Voltage and Current Measurement p. 23
Composition of Unequal Components: Filters p. 25
Integration and Differentiation p. 31
LC Filters p. 32
Electronics p. 34
Active Elements p. 34
Vacuum Tubes and Semiconductors p. 35
Semiconductor Devices p. 36
Diodes and Transistors p. 37
Other Semiconductor Types p. 40
Amplifiers, Gain, Decibels and Saturation p. 42
Gain p. 43
Bandwidth p. 43
Input and Output Impedances p. 45
Maximum Signal Strength, Distortion p. 46
Noise, Hum Interference and Grounding p. 47
Differential Amplifiers, Block Diagrams p. 55
Operational Amplifiers, Feedback p. 58
Electronic Filters p. 63
Electrophysiological Preamplifiers p. 65
Amplifier for Extracellular Recording p. 65
Amplifier for Intracellular Recording p. 66
Patch-Clamp Amplifier p. 68
Measurement of Membrane Capacitance in Voltage-Clamp p. 71
Recording of Secretory Events p. 72
Power Supplies and Signal Sources p. 75
Electronic Voltmeters p. 79
Electrometers p. 79
The Cathode Ray Oscilloscope p. 80
LCD Screen Oscilloscopes p. 82
Important Properties of Oscilloscopes p. 82
Digital Electronics, Logic p. 85
A/D and D/A Conversions p. 93
Computers p. 96
Electrochemistry p. 103
Introduction, Properties of Electrolytes p. 103
Electrolytes p. 104
The Metal/Electrolyte Interface p. 109
Capacitance of Polarized Electrodes p. 110
Faradaic Processes p. 111
Practical Electrodes p. 113
Electrochemical Cells, Measuring Electrodes p. 113
The Silver/Silver Chloride Electrode p. 114
Non-Faradaic Processes p. 115
Electrokinetic Processes p. 115
Liquid Junction Potentials p. 116
Membrane Potentials p. 118
Derivation of the Equilibrium Potential p. 118
The Reversal Potential p. 119
Ion Selectivity p. 121
Electrodes Sensitive to pH and Other Ions p. 122
Electrodes: Practical Aspects p. 123
The Glass Micropipette p. 123
Patch Electrodes p. 125
The Semi-Permeable Patch p. 126
Ground Electrodes p. 127
Volume Conduction: Electric Fields in Electrolyte Solutions p. 128
Homogeneous Electric Field p. 128
Monopole Field p. 130
Dipole Field p. 130
Signal Analysis p. 132
Introduction p. 132
Analysis of Analogue Potentials p. 132
Convolution p. 135
The Laplace Transform p. 138
The Fourier Transform p. 140
Odd and Even Functions p. 144
Linearity p. 144
Analogue-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analogue Conversions p. 146
Signal Windowing p. 148
Digital Signal Processing p. 150
Signal Averaging p. 150
Autocorrelation p. 151
Crosscorrelation p. 153
The Discrete Fourier Transform p. 155
The Detection of Signals of Known Shape p. 156
Digital Filters p. 157
Fourier Filters and Non-Causal Filters p. 160
Non-Linear Systems Analysis p. 164
The Formal Method: Wiener Kernel Analysis p. 164
The Informal Method: Output Shape Analysis p. 166
The Importance of Non-Linearity p. 167
Analysis of Action Potential Signals p. 169
Population Spike and Gross Activity p. 170
Recording from the Skin Surface p. 171
The Electrocardiogram p. 171
The Electroencephalogram p. 173
Other Surface Recording Techniques p. 174
Single-Unit Activity p. 175
Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Spike Series p. 176
Interval Histogram p. 179
Poisson Processes p. 180
The Gamma Distribution p. 182
The Mathematics of Random Point Processes p. 182
Markov Chains p. 184
Time Series Analysis: Spike Rate, Interval Series and Instantaneous Frequency p. 184
Spike Frequency or Rate p. 184
Interval Series and Instantaneous Frequency p. 185
Dot Display p. 187
Stimulus-Response Characteristics: The PSTH p. 188
Analysis of Nerve Membrane Data p. 190
Terminology: The Hodgkin and Huxley Channel p. 190
Analysis of Macroscopic (Whole-Cell) Currents p. 191
Leak Subtraction by Extrapolation p. 193
Leak Subtraction by Prepulses: The P/N Method p. 194
Noise Analysis: Estimating the Single-Channel Conductance from Whole-Cell or Large Patch Recordings
p. 194
Noise Analysis: Estimating Channel Kinetics p. 196
Analysis of Microscopic (Unitary) Currents p. 196
Estimation of the unitary current p. 197
Detection of opening and closing events p. 198
Estimation of the number of channels in the patch p. 199
Measurement of dwell times p. 201
Calculating Dwell Time Histograms from Markov Chains p. 204
The First Latency Distribution p. 204
The Closed Time Distribution p. 207
The Open Time Distribution p. 208
The Macroscopic Current p. 208
Example: Simulation of the Hodgkin and Huxley Voltage-Dependent Sodium Channel p. 208
Appendices p. 210
Symbols, Abbreviations and Codes p. 210
Symbols p. 210
Abbreviations p. 211
Decimal Multipliers p. 212
Colour Code for Resistors p. 212
Symbols for Circuit Diagrams p. 213
Electrical Safety in Electrophysiological Set-Ups p. 215
Regular Instruments p. 215
Medical Instruments p. 218
The Use of CRT Monitors in Visual Experiments p. 221
Image Generation in CRT Monitors p. 221
Frame Rates and Interlacing p. 222
The Video Signal p. 222
The Use of CRT Monitors in Electrophysiology p. 224
Contrast, Gamma and Other Brightness Issues p. 225
Colour Coding p. 226
Geometry p. 227
Timing p. 227
Spatial and Brightness Resolution p. 228
Complex Numbers and Complex Frequency p. 230
The Meaning of Complex Frequency p. 232
The Mathematics of Markov Chains p. 233
Recursive (Non-Causal) Filters p. 239
Pseudocode to Calculate the Macroscopic Current and Dwell Time Distributions from a Transition Matrix
Referred and Recommended Literature p. 244
Electricity and Electronics p. 244
Electrochemistry p. 244 Neurophysiology p. 244 Recording Methods p. 244 Signal Analysis p. 245 Mathematics p. 245 Index p. 246
