Electrode Recordings

Abstract

Abstract Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring, which is critical to DBS’s success, depends on being able to record various forms of neuronal activity and to influence this activity electronically. This chapter focuses on recordings of neuronal activity. In order to understand and then leverage neuronal recordings, one must understand the biophysical mechanisms by which neurons generate electrical activity. An important form of neuronal electrical activity consists of action potentials generated by individual neurons. This form is the basis for most microelectrode recordings. Bits of information conveyed from one neuron to the next, action potentials generate voltage changes, known as postsynaptic potentials, in the next neuron. A local field potential, which is another type of signal recorded in the brain, represents the summed or averaged postsynaptic potentials of hundreds of neurons.