title: Statistical analysis of dose-response curves in extracellular electrophysiological studies of single neurons.
abstract: The application of polynomial regression and the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to dose-response (DR) data derived from extracellular electrophysiological studies of midbrain dopamine neurons and noradrenergic locus coeruleus neurons in vivo is demonstrated and discussed. Third-order polynomial regression was found to be a better method for estimating ED50 values than probit analysis of linear regression. ANCOVA provides a more powerful statistical method than ANOVA for detecting significant differences in ED50 values or DR curves when a confounding variable such as basal discharge rate is present. The methods of analysis presented herein should be useful in the analysis of other types of neurons in electrophysiological studies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurophysiology, Center for Cell Biology, Sinai Research Institute, Detroit, Michigan.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Pitts
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kelland
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Chiodo
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000502:physiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D051381:Rats; D012044:Regression Analysis
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D001058:Apomorphine