02577nas a2200301 4500008004100000022001400041245010600055210006900161260001200230300001200242490000800254520171500262653001201977653002601989653002102015653001102036653001502047653000902062653002502071653001202096653001402108653001602122100002402138700002102162700002102183700002302204856004802227 2014 eng d a1522-146600aLong-term recording of external urethral sphincter EMG activity in unanesthetized, unrestrained rats.0 aLongterm recording of external urethral sphincter EMG activity i c08/2014 aF485-970 v3073 a

The external urethral sphincter muscle (EUS) plays an important role in urinary function and often contributes to urinary dysfunction. EUS study would benefit from methodology for longitudinal recording of electromyographic activity (EMG) in unanesthetized animals, but this muscle is a poor substrate for chronic intramuscular electrodes, and thus the required methodology has not been available. We describe a method for long-term recording of EUS EMG by implantation of fine wires adjacent to the EUS that are secured to the pubic bone. Wires pass subcutaneously to a skull-mounted plug and connect to the recording apparatus by a flexible cable attached to a commutator. A force transducer-mounted cup under a metabolic cage collected urine, allowing recording of EUS EMG and voided urine weight without anesthesia or restraint. Implant durability permitted EUS EMG recording during repeated (up to 3 times weekly) 24-h sessions for more than 8 wk. EMG and voiding properties were stable over weeks 2-8. The degree of EUS phasic activity (bursting) during voiding was highly variable, with an average of 25% of voids not exhibiting bursting. Electrode implantation adjacent to the EUS yielded stable EMG recordings over extended periods and eliminated the confounding effects of anesthesia, physical restraint, and the potential for dislodgment of the chronically implanted intramuscular electrodes. These results show that micturition in unanesthetized, unrestrained rats is usually, but not always, associated with EUS bursting. This methodology is applicable to studying EUS behavior during progression of gradually evolving disease and injury models and in response to therapeutic interventions.

10aAnimals10aElectrodes, Implanted10aElectromyography10aFemale10aPubic Bone10aRats10aRats, Sprague-Dawley10aUrethra10aUrination10aUrodynamics1 aLaPallo, Brandon, K1 aWolpaw, Jonathan1 aChen, Xiang Yang1 aCarp, Jonathan, S. uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2499089502917nas a2200265 4500008004100000022001400041245009700055210006900152260001200221300001000233490000800243520213200251653002202383653001202405653002102417653001302438653001802451653002102469653000902490653004102499100001902540700002302559700002102582856004802603 2002 eng d a0165-027000aTemporal transformation of multiunit activity improves identification of single motor units.0 aTemporal transformation of multiunit activity improves identific c02/2002 a87-980 v1143 a

This report describes a temporally based method for identifying repetitive firing of motor units. This approach is ideally suited to spike trains with negative serially correlated inter-spike intervals (ISIs). It can also be applied to spike trains in which ISIs exhibit little serial correlation if their coefficient of variation (COV) is sufficiently low. Using a novel application of the Hough transform, this method (i.e. the modified Hough transform (MHT)) maps motor unit action potential (MUAP) firing times into a feature space with ISI and offset (defined as the latency from an arbitrary starting time to the first MUAP in the train) as dimensions. Each MUAP firing time corresponds to a pattern in the feature space that represents all possible MUAP trains with a firing at that time. Trains with stable ISIs produce clusters in the feature space, whereas randomly firing trains do not. The MHT provides a direct estimate of mean firing rate and its variability for the entire data segment, even if several individual MUAPs are obscured by firings from other motor units. Addition of this method to a shape-based classification approach markedly improved rejection of false positives using simulated data and identified spike trains in whole muscle electromyographic recordings from rats. The relative independence of the MHT from the need to correctly classify individual firings permits a global description of stable repetitive firing behavior that is complementary to shape-based approaches to MUAP classification.

10aAction Potentials10aAnimals10aElectromyography10aH-Reflex10aMotor Neurons10aMuscle, Skeletal10aRats10aSignal Processing, Computer-Assisted1 aSchalk, Gerwin1 aCarp, Jonathan, S.1 aWolpaw, Jonathan uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11850043