Automatic detection of spontaneous synaptic responses in central neurons.

A fully automatized software package for detection and measurements of randomly occurring synaptic transients embedded in background noise is described. It is based on waveform recognition protocols, allows analysis of long data segments, and provides quantitative information about event amplitudes and kinetics. Simulated postsynaptic recordings have been used to assess its performance over a wide range of conditions mimicking those seen in physiological experiments.