A new method for acquisition and analysis of single unit recording data

Single unit recording has been used as a well-known technique to study the electrical behavior of neurons. In this respect, the classical methods are rather expensive. In this study a simple and inexpensive method for single unit recording studies has been introduced. Computer sound card was used for data acquisition. Neural responses were saved via simple sound applicable packages and then analyzed for peristimulus time histogram (PSTH) extraction by home-made software. Analog to digital (AID) converter board and sound card simultaneously recorded neuronal activities in two brainstem nuclei (paragigantocellularis lateralis (PGi) and locus ceruleus (LC)). Then, PSTH of data were calculated online for AID captured data and offline for sound card captured data. The results showed that there were no significant differences between PSTH of PGi or LC neurons in two protocols. Therefore, sound cards can be used as well as AID boards for data acquisition in electrophysiological laboratories