A novel stimulus artifact removal technique for high-rate electrical stimulation

J Neurosci Methods. 2008 May 30;170(2):277-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.01.023. Epub 2008 Feb 3.

Abstract

Electrical stimulus artifact corrupting electrophysiological recordings often makes the subsequent analysis of the underlying neural response difficult. This is particularly evident when investigating short-latency neural activity in response to high-rate electrical stimulation. We developed and evaluated an off-line technique for the removal of stimulus artifact from electrophysiological recordings. Pulsatile electrical stimulation was presented at rates of up to 5000 pulses/s during extracellular recordings of guinea pig auditory nerve fibers. Stimulus artifact was removed by replacing the sample points at each stimulus artifact event with values interpolated along a straight line, computed from neighbouring sample points. This technique required only that artifact events be identifiable and that the artifact duration remained less than both the inter-stimulus interval and the time course of the action potential. We have demonstrated that this computationally efficient sample-and-interpolate technique removes the stimulus artifact with minimal distortion of the action potential waveform. We suggest that this technique may have potential applications in a range of electrophysiological recording systems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology
  • Animals
  • Artifacts*
  • Cochlear Nerve / physiology
  • Data Interpretation, Statistical
  • Electric Stimulation / methods*
  • Electrophysiology
  • Guinea Pigs
  • Microelectrodes
  • Nerve Fibers / physiology