The PatchMaster program from HEKA elektronik is intended for stimulated acquisition of electrophysiological data. A single data set recorded using PatchMaster is stored as separate files, each with the same name but a different extension, as shown in the table:
| Extension | Contents |
|---|---|
| amp | amplifier |
| dat | acquired data |
| pgf | stimuli |
| pul | control information |
The filter requires that the pul, pgf, and dat files be present to read the data from a PatchMaster data set. The filter does not use the amp file.
The filter reads data sets produced by PatchMaster version 1 or later. If the filter cannot read your PatchMaster files, they may have been written by a newer version of PatchMaster. Check the Bruxton Web site to determine if an update is required.
A PatchMaster file is structured hierarchically into groups, series, and sweeps. A file consists of a sequence of groups, a group consists of a sequence of series, and a series consists of a sequence of sweeps.
A series is a sequence of recorded sweeps, based on the same stimulus template. A stimulus template specifies stimulus waveforms, and describes how these waveforms vary from sweep to sweep within the series.
A sweep is a single continuous recording.
Note that a PatchMaster data set can be edited to remove individual sweeps.
Stimulus waveform templates for a series are specified as a sequence of segments. For example, one segment might specify an amplitude of -80mV, while the next segment might specify an amplitude of -20mV.
A segment might specify that the segment amplitude varies from sweep to sweep within a series. For example, a segment might have a base amplitude of -80mV, and the amplitude might change by +10mV each sweep. For the first sweep, the segment amplitude would be -80mV, for the next one -70mV, and so on.
PatchMaster can record data from multiple channels. Each sweep contains data for each channel acquired. If leak subtraction is enabled, the data stored in the data set is the leak subtracted data. The leak trace may optionally be stored in the data set also.
Note that a PatchMaster data set can be edited to remove data or leak traces from individual sweeps.
PatchMaster can operate multiple stimulus channels.
PatchMaster allows files, group, series, sweeps and channels to be marked. These marks can be stored in the data set.
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