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Biophys J, February 2000, p. 662-667, Vol. 78, No. 2

Adjustments for the Display of Quantized Ion Channel Dwell Times in Histograms with Logarithmic Bins

J. Alex Stark and Stephen B. Hladky

National Institute of Statistical Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709-4006 USA, and Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1QJ, England

Dwell-time histograms are often plotted as part of patch-clamp investigations of ion channel currents. The advantages of plotting these histograms with a logarithmic time axis were demonstrated by Blatz and Magleby (1986, J. Physiol. (Lond.). 378:141-174), McManus et al. (1987, Pflügers Arch. 410:530-553), and Sigworth and Sine (1987, Biophys. J. 52:1047-1054). Sigworth and Sine argued that the interpretation of such histograms is simplified if the counts are presented in a manner similar to that of a probability density function. However, when ion channel records are recorded as a discrete time series, the dwell times are quantized. As a result, the mapping of dwell times to logarithmically spaced bins is highly irregular; bins may be empty, and significant irregularities may extend beyond the duration of 100 samples. Using simple approximations based on the nature of the binning process and the transformation rules for probability density functions, we develop adjustments for the display of the counts to compensate for this effect. Tests with simulated data suggest that this procedure provides a faithful representation of the data.

Biophys J, February 2000, p. 662-667, Vol. 78, No. 2
© 2000 by the Biophysical Society   0006-3495/00/02/662/06  $2.00




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