title: Automatic classification of canine PRG neuronal discharge patterns using K-means clustering.
abstract: Respiratory-related neurons in the parabrachial-Kölliker-Fuse (PB-KF) region of the pons play a key role in the control of breathing. The neuronal activities of these pontine respiratory group (PRG) neurons exhibit a variety of inspiratory (I), expiratory (E), phase spanning and non-respiratory related (NRM) discharge patterns. Due to the variety of patterns, it can be difficult to classify them into distinct subgroups according to their discharge contours. This report presents a method that automatically classifies neurons according to their discharge patterns and derives an average subgroup contour of each class. It is based on the K-means clustering technique and it is implemented via SigmaPlot User-Defined transform scripts. The discharge patterns of 135 canine PRG neurons were classified into seven distinct subgroups. Additional methods for choosing the optimal number of clusters are described. Analysis of the results suggests that the K-means clustering method offers a robust objective means of both automatically categorizing neuron patterns and establishing the underlying archetypical contours of subtypes based on the discharge patterns of group of neurons.
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Electronic address: ezuperku@mcw.edu.
authors.forename: Edward J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Zuperku
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prkic
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Pediatric Anesthesia, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Astrid G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Stucke
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Justin R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Francis A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Hopp
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA; Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Pediatric Anesthesia, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Eckehard A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Stuth
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004285:Dogs; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D065836:Kolliker-Fuse Nucleus / Q000166:cytology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology*; D012119:Respiration
keywords: Classification; Clustering; Discharge patterns; Dogs; Pontine neurons