Evaluation of noisy single shot signals in cardiac optical potential mapping

The authors have developed a novel data evaluation method which allows them to gain statistically relevant information even from noisy single shot records. The method may be applied to all signals which consist not only of a part of interest (yielding the relevant information) but also of a part which contains only noise. It is based on two assumptions: (i) the noise remains the same throughout a record and (ii) the influence of noise on a noisy signal is the same as on a signal without noise. The authors have applied this method to signals which were obtained via optical potential monitoring using a potential sensitive dye in single cardiomyocytes. Calculating time lags of excitation in cardiomyocyte yielded confidence intervals which allowed the authors to quantify the reliability of the data