On statistical properties of whole nerve cuff recordings

Whole nerve cuff electrodes can record an electric signal generated by the superposition of single fiber action potentials (AP's). Using a simple stoc hastic model for the superposition of AP's, the statistical properties of n erve cuff signals are mathematically derived in this study. Consequences of common signal processing methods like rectification and time-averaging are also explained. The nerve cuff signals are found to be approximately ident ically, independently distributed Gaussian signals with zero mean and varyi ng variance. The spectral properties of the cuff signals generated by singl e AP shape or different AP shapes are also addressed and investigated by ex amining the properties of the autocorrelation functions of the nerve cuff s ignals. The theoretical results were found to be in accordance with compute r simulations and processing of actual recorded data.