Methods for grouping shapes of synaptic currents from sets of synapses
by
John Robinson
School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney
Coauthors: R.J. Henery, M.R. Bennett

Recordings of synaptic currents due to evoked transmitter release at sets of synapses have different amplitudes and time courses displayed as different shapes of curves. It is postulated that groups of curves correspond to different synapses. So it is of interest to find groupings of the shapes. We propose using hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling applied to a measure of distance between pairs of recordings to obtain groupings. We also propose a test of significance based on comparison with pairs of recordings where stimulation failed to produce evoked synaptic release of transmitter. The examination of the significance levels for these tests provides information on the groups.

Date received: April 15, 2002