User manual

CHAPTER 1 – Introduction

1.1 WinLTP Capabilities

WinLTP is a stimulation, data acquisition and on-line analysis program for studying Long-Term

Potentiation (LTP), Long-Term Depression (LTD) and other synaptic events such as epileptiform bursts.

WinLTP records synaptic activity in extracellular, current-clamp or voltage-clamp modes (at up to 40

KHz/channel). WinLTP is a multitasking program that can run up to three tasks simultaneously, 1)

repetitive Stimulation/Acquisition Sweeps (similar to the DOS LTP Program Anderson and Collingridge,

2001), and 2) Continuous Acquisition ‘tape recording’ (Fig. 1.1.1). In addition, the Stimulation/Acquisition

Sweeps task now has a Protocol Builder to produce complex protocols, changeable at run time.

WinLTP runs on Windows PCI bus computers and uses National Instruments PCI/PCIe M-or X-Series

boards and Axon Instruments' Digidata 1320A and 1322A data acquisition boards. Other software that

can use the X-Series and M-Series boards includes WaveMetrics' IGOR, National Instruments' LabView,

John Dempster's Strathclyde Electrophysiology Suite (WinWCP and WinEDR), and Silver lab's Nclamp.

The basic design philosophy behind WinLTP is to provide ever more complex stimulation protocols using

the Protocol Builder, do sufficient online analysis to let you modify the experiment as it runs (such as

changing baselines or protocol flow), do simultaneous continuous acquisition, (eventually) do

simultaneous capture and analysis of spontaneous events, and use inexpensive but excellent data

acquisition boards (National Instruments M- and X-Series boards). WinLTP on/off-line analyses include

basic analyses of synaptic potentials ( Peak Amplitude, Latency, Slope, Area, Duration, Rise/Decay Time,

Coastline, PopSpike Amplitude and Latency, Average Amplitude), and also Cell Input Resistance (Rm),

and Patch Electrode Series Resistance (Rs). However, WinLTP is not designed to do every possible

synaptic analysis, and instead is designed to work with other very good, and often inexpensive analysis

programs. For example, additional synaptic event analyses such as synaptic exponential decay time can

be done by separate analysis programs including Synaptosoft's MiniAnalysis and Christoph Schmidt-

Hieber's StimFit32, and spontaneous synaptic events in continuous acquisition gap-free abf files can be

analyzed by Bill Heitler's DataView, Synaptosoft's MiniAnalysis, Axograph Scientific's AxoGraphX and

Molecular Device's ClampFit.

WinLTP was written with Borland C++ Builder using Win32 VCL components. The program is available at

low or no cost from www.winltp.com.

More complex WinLTP functionality includes:

1. Multitasking

a. Repeat sweep stimulation, acquisition and analysis

b. Tape recorder (Continuous Acquisition of 2 AD channels down to 25 µsec sampling interval,

saved to a gap-free Axon Binary File)

2. Protocol Builder for writing complex protocols.

3. Automated perfusion control for extracellular slice and patch-clamp experiments

4. Impose single and averaged sweeps

5 View a sweep by clicking on an Analysis Graph data point

6 View neighboring sweeps

7. Fast Repeat (LTD) Sweep Stimulation with no time between sweeps