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 polyomial regression was found to be a better method for estimating ED₅₀ values than probit analysis or 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 electrophysiol studies.