Statistical analysis of dose-response curves in extracellular electrophysiological studies of single neurons

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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.