Transmembrane potentials and atrial fibrillation

1960 ◽  
Vol 199 (2) ◽  
pp. 346-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Klein ◽  
William C. Holland

The mean maximum following frequency of single atrial cells as determined by the microelectrode technique was found to be 820/min. with a range of 600–1050. The mean ‘firing’ rate of atrial cells during acetylcholine induced fibrillation was 900/min. with a range of 600–1250/min. The data are interpreted to mean that the observed changes in ion transport during fibrillation are not the result of higher firing rates of atrial cells as compared to those during rapid electrical excitation.


1978 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 338-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Schreiner ◽  
G. K. Essick ◽  
B. L. Whitsel

1. The present study is based on the demonstration (8, 9) that the relationship between mean interval (MI) and standard deviation (SD) for stimulus-driven activity recorded from SI neurons is well fitted by the linear equation SD = a X MI + b and on the observations that the values of the slope (a) and y intercept (b) parameters of this relationship are independent of stimulus conditions and may vary widely from one neuron to the next (8). 2. A criterion for the discriminability of two different mean firing rates requiring that the mean intervals of their respective interspike interval (ISI) distributions be separated by a fixed interval (expressed in SD units) is developed and, on the basis of this criterion, a graphical display of the capacity of a neuron with a known SD-MI relationship to reflect a change in stimulus conditions with a change in mean firing rate is derived. Using this graphical approach, it is shown that the parameters of the SD-MI relationship for a single neuron determine a range of firing frequencies, within which that neuron exhibits the greatest capacity to signal differences in stimulus conditions using a frequency code. 3. The discrimination criterion is modified to incorporate the changes in the symmetry of the ISI distribution observed to accompany changes in mean firing rate. It is shown that, although the observed symmetry changes do influence the capacity of a cortical neuron to signal a change in stimulus conditions with a change in mean firing rate, they do not alter the range of firing rates (determined by the parameters of the SD-MI relationship) within which the capacity for discrimination is maximal. 4. The maximal number of firing levels that can be distinguished by a somatosensory cortical neuron (using the same discrimination criterion described above) discharging within a specified range of mean frequencies also is demonstrated to depend on the parameters of the linear equation which relates SD to MI. 5. Two approaches based on the t test for differences between two means are developed in an attempt to ascertain the minimum separation of the mean intervals of the ISI distributions necessary for two different mean firing rates to be discriminated with 80% certainty.



1996 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. E. Tansey ◽  
B. R. Botterman

1. The aim of this study was to examine the nature of motoneuron firing-rate modulation in type-identified motor units during smoothly graded contractions of the cat medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle evoked by stimulation of the mesencephalic locomotor region (MLR). Motoneuron discharge patterns, firing rates, and the extent of firing-rate modulation in individual units were studied, as was the extent of concomitant changes in firing rates within pairs of simultaneously active units. 2. In 21 pairs of simultaneously active motor units, studied during 41 evoked contractions, the motoneurons' discharge rates and patterns were measured by processing the cells' recorded action potentials through windowing devices and storing their timing in computer memory. Once recruited, most motoneurons increased their firing rates over a limited range of increasing muscle tension and then maintained a fairly constant firing rate as muscle force continued to rise. Most motoneurons also decreased their firing rates over a slightly larger, but still limited, range of declining muscle force before they were derecruited. Although this was the most common discharge pattern recorded, several other interesting patterns were also seen. 3. The mean firing rate for slow twitch (type S) motor units (27.8 imp/s, 5,092 activations) was found to be significantly different from the mean firing rate for fast twitch (type F) motor units (48.4 imp/s, 11,272 activations; Student's t-test, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the mean firing rates of fast twitch, fatigue-resistant (type FR) and fast twitch, fatigable (type FF) motor units. When the relationship between motoneuron firing rate and whole-muscle force was analyzed, it was noted that, in general, smaller, lower threshold motor units began firing at lower rates and reached lower peak firing rates than did larger, higher threshold motor units. These results confirm both earlier experimental observations and predictions made by other investigators on the basis of computer simulations of the cat MG motor pool, but are in contrast to motor-unit discharge behavior recorded in some human motor-unit studies. 4. The extent of concomitant changes in firing rate within pairs of simultaneously active motor units was examined to estimate the extent of simultaneous motoneuron firing-rate modulation across the motoneuron pool. A smoothed (5 point sliding average) version of the two motoneurons' instantaneous firing rates was plotted against each other, and the slope and statistical significance of the relationship was determined. In 16 motor-unit pairs, the slope of the motoneurons' firing-rate relationship was significantly distinct from 0. Parallel firing-rate modulation (< 10-fold difference in firing rate change reflected by a slope of > 0.1) was noted only in pairs containing motor units of like physiological type and then only if they were of similar recruitment threshold. 5. Other investigators have demonstrated that changes in a motoneuron's "steady-state" firing rate predictably reflect changes in the amount of effective synaptic current that cell is receiving. The finding in the present study of limited parallel firing-rate modulation between simultaneously active motoneurons would suggest that changes in the synaptic drive to the various motoneurons of the pool is unevenly distributed. This finding, in addition to the findings of orderly motor-unit recruitment and the relationship between motor-unit recruitment threshold and motoneuron firing rate, cannot be adequately accommodated for by the existing models of the synaptic organization in motoneuron pools. Therefore a new model of the synaptic organization within the motoneuron pool has been proposed.



2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyuki Miyawaki ◽  
Brendon Watson ◽  
Kamran Diba

AbstractNeurons fire at highly variable innate rates and recent evidence suggests that low and high firing rate neurons display different plasticity and dynamics. Furthermore, recent publications imply possibly differing rate-dependent effects in hippocampus versus neocortex, but those analyses were carried out separately and with possibly important differences. To more effectively synthesize these questions, we analyzed the firing rate dynamics of populations of neurons in both hippocampal CA1 and frontal cortex under one framework that avoids pitfalls of previous analyses and accounts for regression-to-the-mean. We observed remarkably consistent effects across these regions. While rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was marked by decreased hippocampal firing and increased neocortical firing, in both regions firing rates distributions widened during REM due to differential changes in high-firing versus low-firing cells in parallel with increased interneuron activity. In contrast, upon non-REM (NREM) sleep, firing rate distributions narrowed while interneuron firing decreased. Interestingly, hippocampal interneuron activity closely followed the patterns observed in neocortical principal cells rather than the hippocampal principal cells, suggestive of long-range interactions. Following these undulations in variance, the net effect of sleep was a decrease in firing rates. These decreases were greater in lower-firing hippocampal neurons but higher-firing frontal cortical neurons, suggestive of greater plasticity in these cell groups. Our results across two different regions and with statistical corrections indicate that the hippocampus and neocortex show a mixture of differences and similarities as they cycle between sleep states with a unifying characteristic of homogenization of firing during NREM and diversification during REM.Significance StatementMiyawaki and colleagues analyze firing patterns across low-firing and high-firing neurons in the hippocampus and the frontal cortex throughout sleep in a framework that accounts for regression-to-the-mean. They find that in both regions REM sleep activity is relatively dominated by high-firing neurons and increased inhibition, resulting in a wider distribution of firing rates. On the other hand, NREM sleep produces lower inhibition, and results in a more homogenous distribution of firing rates. Integration of these changes across sleep results in net decrease of firing rates with largest drops in low-firing hippocampal pyramidal neurons and high-firing neocortical principal neurons. These findings provide insights into the effects and functions of different sleep stages on cortical neurons.



1973 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. NEGORO ◽  
S. VISESSUWAN ◽  
R. C. HOLLAND

SUMMARY Spontaneous firing rates were determined from extracellular recordings made from 878 antidromically identified units in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) during the reproductive cycle of the female rat and in analytical experiments. In the latter, rats were ovariectomized and subsequently received either no treatment or oestrogen and/or progesterone. Among rats at metoestrus, dioestrus, mid-pregnancy and in ovariectomized progesterone-treated groups there was no significant difference in the firing rates. However, they were significantly lower than the rates recorded during pro-oestrus, oestrus, full-term pregnancy, the day of parturition, during lactation and in ovariectomized, oestrogen-treated rats. In spayed rats the mean firing rate was significantly lower than at pro-oestrus, oestrus, fullterm pregnancy, the 24 h period after parturition, during lactation and after oestrogen treatment. When progesterone was given subcutaneously to oestrogenized rats, the PVN activity, increased by oestrogen, was significantly depressed 4 h after administration. By 8 h the firing rate had completely recovered. The frequency distribution of the firing rates in pro-oestrus and oestrus showed an approximately normal distribution while those in metoestrus and dioestrus and mid-pregnancy had a Poisson distribution. At full term there were two peaks: one in the range of 3–5 spikes/s and the other less than one spike/s. The distribution was approximately normal on the day of parturition and subsequently the pattern became irregular. In ovariectomized rats and those treated with progesterone it was of a Poisson type while there was a distinct shift to higher frequencies after oestrogen treatment. The mean absolute refractory period, measured for each unit, varied and appears to be dependent on hormonal conditions. It was short in oestrus and long in dioestrus and mid-pregnancy. Oestrogen treatment significantly shortened the absolute refractory period of ovariectomized rats.



2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2063-2082 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Roy ◽  
P. N. Steinmetz ◽  
E. Niebur

Unitary event analysis is a new method for detecting episodes of synchronized neural activity (Riehle, Grüun, Diesmann, & Aertsen, 1997). It detects time intervals that contain coincident firing at higher rates than would be expected if the neurons fired as independent inhomogeneous Poisson processes; all coincidences in such intervals are called unitary events (UEs). Changes in the frequency of UEs that are correlated with behavioral states may indicate synchronization of neural firing that mediates or represents the behavioral state. We show that UE analysis is subject to severe limitations due to the underlying discrete statistics of the number of coincident events. These limitations are particularly stringent for low (0–10 spikes/s) firing rates. Under these conditions, the frequency of UEs is a random variable with a large variation relative to its mean. The relative variation decreases with increasing firing rate, and we compute the lowest firing rate, at which the 95% confidence interval around the mean frequency of UEs excludes zero. This random variation in UE frequency makes interpretation of changes in UEs problematic for neurons with low firing rates. As a typical example, when analyzing 150 trials of an experiment using an averaging window 100 ms wide and a 5ms coincidence window, firing rates should be greater than 7 spikes per second.



1983 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-581 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kuno

Relationship between the firing rate in the auditory fibers and the amplitude of the excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) that trigger afferent impulses was investigated. The unitary EPSPs and spike potentials were extracellularly recorded from the goldfish large auditory fibers by means of a microelectrode placed close to the distal terminals. The relation between the firing rate and the amplitude of the EPSPs was studied using a variety of stimulus conditions. The firing probability of phase-locked impulses was linearly related to the mean amplitude of the EPSPs determined for the same time bins. The same linear relation was applicable for the firings elicited by different intensities of sound and observed at various times after onset and also for the firings produced by applying step increments in intensity. The threshold amplitude of the EPSPs required for initiation of afferent impulses was unchanged in these different situations. Random changes in the amplitude of successively evoked EPSPs were found to underlie the probabilistic nature of the sequence of afferent firings. The present results indicate that the per stimulus adaptation and incremental and decremental responses, as observed in the firing probability of afferent impulses, are largely attributable to adaptive changes in the mean amplitude of the evoked EPSPs and not to changes in excitability of the auditory fibers.



Author(s):  
M. Lemay ◽  
V. Jacquemet ◽  
F. Jousset ◽  
J.M. Vesin ◽  
A. van Oosterom


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eslam Mounier ◽  
Bassem Abdullah ◽  
Hani Mahdi ◽  
Seif Eldawlatly

AbstractThe Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN) represents one of the major processing sites along the visual pathway. Despite its crucial role in processing visual information and its utility as one target for recently developed visual prostheses, it is much less studied compared to the retina and the visual cortex. In this paper, we introduce a deep learning encoder to predict LGN neuronal firing in response to different visual stimulation patterns. The encoder comprises a deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that incorporates visual stimulus spatiotemporal representation in addition to LGN neuronal firing history to predict the response of LGN neurons. Extracellular activity was recorded in vivo using multi-electrode arrays from single units in the LGN in 12 anesthetized rats with a total neuronal population of 150 units. Neural activity was recorded in response to single-pixel, checkerboard and geometrical shapes visual stimulation patterns. Extracted firing rates and the corresponding stimulation patterns were used to train the model. The performance of the model was assessed using different testing data sets and different firing rate windows. An overall mean correlation coefficient between the actual and the predicted firing rates of 0.57 and 0.7 was achieved for the 10 ms and the 50 ms firing rate windows, respectively. Results demonstrate that the model is robust to variability in the spatiotemporal properties of the recorded neurons outperforming other examined models including the state-of-the-art Generalized Linear Model (GLM). The results indicate the potential of deep convolutional neural networks as viable models of LGN firing.



2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Hamatani ◽  
M Iguchi ◽  
Y Aono ◽  
K Ishigami ◽  
S Ikeda ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of death, stroke/systemic embolism and heart failure (HF). Plasma natriuretic peptide (NP) level is an important prognostic marker in HF patients. However, little is known regarding the prognostic significance of plasma NP level in AF patients without HF. Purpose The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between plasma NP level and clinical outcomes such as all-cause death, stroke/systemic embolism and HF hospitalization during follow-up period in AF patients without HF. Methods The Fushimi AF Registry is a community-based prospective survey of AF patients in our city. The inclusion criterion of the registry is the documentation of AF at 12-lead electrocardiogram or Holter monitoring at any time, and there are no exclusion criteria. We started to enroll patients from March 2011, and follow-up data were available for 4,466 patients by the end of November 2019. From the registry, we excluded 1,220 patients without a pre-existing HF (defined as having one of the following; prior hospitalization for HF, New York Heart Association class ≥2, or left ventricular ejection fraction &lt;40%). Among 3,246 AF patients without HF, we investigated 1,189 patients with the data of plasma BNP (n=401) or N-terminal pro-BNP (n=788) level at the enrollment. We divided the patients according to the quartile of each plasma BNP or NT-pro BNP level and compared the backgrounds and outcomes between these 4 groups stratified by plasma NP level. Results Of 1,189 patients, the mean age was 72.1±10.2 years, 454 (38%) were female and 684 (58%) were paroxysmal AF. The mean CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc score were 1.6±1.1 and 2.9±1.5, respectively. Oral anticoagulants were prescribed in 671 (56%) at baseline. The median (interquartile range) BNP and N-terminal pro-BNP level were 84 (38, 176) and 500 (155, 984) pg/ml, respectively. Patients with high plasma NP level were older, and demonstrated lower prevalence of paroxysmal AF, higher CHADS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc scores and higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease and oral anticoagulants prescription (all P&lt;0.01). A total of 165 all-cause death, 114 stroke/systemic embolism and 103 HF hospitalization occurred during the median follow-up period of 5.0 years. Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated that higher plasma NP level was significantly associated with the incidences of all-cause death, stroke/systemic embolism and HF hospitalization in AF patients without HF (Figure 1A). Multivariable Cox regression analysis revealed that plasma NP level could stratify the risk of clinical outcomes even after adjustment by type of AF, CHA2DS2-VASc score, chronic kidney disease and oral anticoagulant prescription (Figure 1B). Conclusion Plasma NP level is a significant prognostic marker for all-cause death, stroke/systemic embolism and HF hospitalization in AF patients without HF, suggesting the importance of measuring plasma NP level in AF patients even without HF. Figure 1 Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None



2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Shaojie Chen ◽  
K. R. Julian Chun ◽  
Zhiyu Ling ◽  
Shaowen Liu ◽  
Lin Zhu ◽  
...  

Transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is non-inferior to vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) in preventing thromboembolic events in atrial fibrillation (AF). Non-vitamin K antagonists (NOACs) have an improved safety profile over VKAs; however, evidence regarding their effect on cardiovascular and neurological outcomes relative to LAAO is limited. Up-to-date randomized trials or propensity-score-matched data comparing LAAO vs. NOACs in high-risk patients with AF were pooled in our study. A total of 2849 AF patients (LAAO: 1368, NOACs: 1481, mean age: 75 ± 7.5 yrs, 63.5% male) were enrolled. The mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 4.3 ± 1.7, and the mean HAS-BLED score was 3.4 ± 1.2. The baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. In the LAAO group, the success rate of device implantation was 98.8%. During a mean follow-up of 2 years, as compared with NOACs, LAAO was associated with a significant reduction of ISTH major bleeding (p = 0.0002). There were no significant differences in terms of ischemic stroke (p = 0.61), ischemic stroke/thromboembolism (p = 0.63), ISTH major and clinically relevant minor bleeding (p = 0.73), cardiovascular death (p = 0.63), and all-cause mortality (p = 0.71). There was a trend toward reduction of combined major cardiovascular and neurological endpoints in the LAAO group (OR: 0.84, 95% CI: 0.64–1.11, p = 0.12). In conclusion, for high-risk AF patients, LAAO is associated with a significant reduction of ISTH major bleeding without increased ischemic events, as compared to “contemporary NOACs”. The present data show the superior role of LAAO over NOACs among high-risk AF patients in terms of reduction of major bleeding; however, more randomized controlled trials are warranted.



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