A software-based platform for multichannel electrophysiological data acquisition

Recent improvements in microelectrodes technology have enabled neuroscientists to record electrophysiological signals from hundreds of neurons and simultaneously from a large number of channels. However, several environmental factors may introduce noise and artefacts and affect proper interpretation of recordings. Thus, the development of appropriate signal acquisition and processing platforms dealing with large data sets and in real-time represents a current fundamental challenge. In the present work, we present an easily-expandable Lab VIEW based software for handling data in real-time during a multichannel neurophysiological signal acquisition. The software was designed to exploit modern MultiCore CPUs for large scale data processing and, by freely setting key acquisition parameters, to work with virtually any kind of biological signal. The software allows for data storage in MATLAB format to facilitate off-line signal processing. Examples of local field potential signal acquisitions from the mouse hippocampus are reported to illustrate software features.