The purpose of the Electrophysiology Core will be to provide centralized electrophysiological services to each of the Components of the Program Project. Three types of specialized measures will be carried out: H-reflex measures in vivo in Components I, II, III and IV, muscle force and fatigability testing in situ in Components I and II, and intracellular labeling in vitro in Components III and IV. The Core Facility will consist of two contiguous rooms (one 350 sq. ft. and one 175 sq. ft.) containing the cat and rat exercise/treadmill set-ups in the larger, divided room, and a slice recording set-up In the smaller, undivided room. The contiguity will allow certain common pieces of equipment to be shared between rooms, representing significant savings. For in vivo H-reflex testing, amplifiers (electromyograms) and stimulators will be required, while in situ recording of muscle force and fatigability will require the addition of force transducers and a spinal stereotaxic instrument and surgical table. Computer data analysis (Superscope) and storage (Neurodata) will be shared across measures, while the in vitro recordings will require an intracellular amplifier, dissecting microscope, vibration damping air table and electrode carrier. Some of this equipment is on hand and only about one third of the equipment required for this triple-duty Facility is being requested. The centralized recording of different measures will allow standardization of results across Components, permitting comparisons across paradigms and species.
