Spike-sorting analysis of neural electrical signals evoked by acupuncture based on model

Cogn Neurodyn. 2021 Feb;15(1):131-140. doi: 10.1007/s11571-020-09650-1. Epub 2020 Nov 28.

Abstract

Acupuncturing the Zusanli (ST 36) point with different types of manual acupuncture manipulations (MAs) and different frequencies can evoke a lot of neural response activities in spinal dorsal root neurons. The action potential is the basic unit of communication in the neural response process. With the rapid development of the electrode acquisition technology, we can simultaneously obtain neural electrical signals of multiple neurons in the target area. So it is crucial to extract spike trains of each neuron from raw recorded data. To solve the problem of variability of the spike waveform, this paper adopts a optimization algorithm based on model to improve the wave-cluster algorithm, which can provide higher accuracy and reliability. Further, through this optimization algorithm, we make a statistical analysis on spike events evoked by different MAs. Results suggest that numbers of response spikes under reinforcing manipulations are far more than reducing manipulations, which mainly embody in synchronous spike activities.

Keywords: Action potential; Acupuncture; Neural electrical signal; Sorting.