Statistical analysis of motor unit firing patterns in a human skeletal muscle.
A statistical analysis of the firing pattern of single motor units in the human brachial biceps muscle is presented. Single motor unit spike trains are recorded and analyzed. The statistical treatment of these spike trains is as stochastic point processes, the theory of which is briefly discussed. Evidence is presented that motor unit spike trains may be modelled by a renewal process with an underlying gaussian probability density. Statistical independence of successive interspike intervals is shown using scatter diagrams; the hypothesis of a gaussian distribution is accepted at the 99th percentile confidence limit, chi-square test, in 90% of the units tested. A functional relationship between the mean and standard deviation is shown and discussed; its implications in obtaining sample size are presented in an appendix.The results of higher order analysis in the form of autocorrelograms and grouped interval histograms are presented. Grouped interval histograms are discussed in the context of motor unit data, and used to confirm the hypothesis that a stable probability density function does not represent a good model of the data at this level of analysis.
D000200:Action Potentials; D001132:Arm; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D011336:Probability; D013223:Statistics as Topic
Biophys J. 1967 Jul;7(4):391-418
4292791
Biophys J. 1967 Jul;7(4):419-40
4292792
J Physiol. 1954 Jan;123(1):214-24
13131257
J Physiol. 1954 Aug 27;125(2):322-35
13192822
Jpn J Physiol. 1954 Sep 1;4(3):234-40
13232885
Acta Physiol Scand. 1957 Mar 7;38(3-4):331-54
13410631
Biophys J. 1960 Sep;1:15-28
13704760
J Neurophysiol. 1963 Nov;26:958-77
14084169
Biophys J. 1964 Jan;4:41-68
14104072
Acta Psychiatr Neurol Scand. 1955;30(1-2):125-31
13301877