title: Interpreting power spectra from nonstationary membrane current fluctuations.
abstract: It is often desirable to characterize membrane current fluctuations from ionic channels under conditions in which the mean current and the variance of the fluctuations change with time. A simple theory is developed that relates the power spectrum to the channel characteristics under such nonstationary conditions, assuming that the mean current time-course has been removed from the fluctuation records. Strategies for removing the mean time-course are discussed, the spectra are calculated from simulated channel fluctuations for comparison with the theory.
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D007700:Kinetics; D008433:Mathematics; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008566:Membranes / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels