PROLONGED MONITORING OF COLONIC SPIKE ACTIVITY BY A COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM - APPLICATION TO THE RABBIT COLON

In the present paper, we describe and validate a computerized system f or the quantitative analysis of colonic spike activity in the consciou s rabbit. This system allowed data acquisition at 160 Hz on 8 channels simultaneously during the recording session. Data analysis at the end of the recording session took approximately 10 min for each hour of r ecording. The spike recognition procedure was carried out on the basis of a discriminant function which discarded artifactual fast events. D ata could be presented as histograms or be transferred into an ASCII f ile for later statistical analysis. Reliability tests showed that the misrecognition rate was only 3.88%. In conclusion, this computerized s ystem is a reliable, timesaving tool for the quantitative analysis of colonic spike activity.