Plexon Stimulator 2.0, Руководство пользователя

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Neurotechnology Research Systems
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5 Getting Started
This section introduces the basic functions of the stimulator guides you through basic stimulator
operation using the model electrodes on the test board. It is highly recommended that you work
through this section before attempting to do any other type of stimulation. Note that you will need
an oscilloscope to see the output of the monitor channels.
IMPORTANT: OBSERVE THE FOLLOWING SEQUENCE DURING ALL EXPERIMENTS:
1. TURN THE STIMULATOR POWER ON
2. LAUNCH THE USER INTERFACE PROGRAM
3. CONNECT THE STIMULATOR TO THE ELECTRODES
4. CONDUCT THE EXPERIMENT
5. CLOSE THE USER INTERFACE PROGRAM
6. DISCONNECT THE STIMULATOR FROM THE ELECTRODES
7. TURN THE STIMULATOR POWER OFF
5.1 Overview
Every stimulation protocol begins with the definition of the stimulation pattern. The stimulator 2.0
graphical user interface (GUI) provides a means for defining bi-phasic rectangular pulses and
bursts of identical pulses that are repeated at a fixed rate. More complicated rectangular
waveforms and non-rectangular arbitrary waveforms may be defined in and loaded from a simple
text file. Once defined, the stimulation pattern is downloaded into the stimulator memory for
playback. Playback can be initiated from the GUI or in response to a digital input to the stimulator
hardware. During playback, the actual current and voltage delivered to the electrode can be
observed on the monitor outputs. Monitoring the electrodes during stimulation is a critical
component of successful stimulation.
In addition to performing stimulation, Stimulator 2.0 also has a special impedance testing mode. In
impedance testing mode, the stimulation pattern is a predefined 1 kHz ±100 nA sine wave that is
automatically loaded into every channel. Playback of the impedance test waveform on particular
channels is initiated from the GUI. The voltage elicited in response to the impedance test current is
then observed on the voltage monitor output to determine the electrode impedance. Variable gain
steps are provided to resolve a wide range of electrode impedances.
The flowchart in section 5.2 presents the basic operational steps for using Stimulator 2.0.