User manual

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The fact that one computer can run many WinLTP programs simultaneously is nice (saves approximately
$1000 for every extra computer not needed), but is not as crucial as the cost of the WinLTP / National
Instruments data acquisition system.
How to run more than one WinLTP Program and one AD board on one computer has been described in
detail in Section 2.4.7.
In WinLTP 1.11b there have also been minor improvements for running multiple WinLTP Onine M,X-
Series programs on one computer (Fig. 10.2.8.1):
1) The different WinLTP acquisition programs can now be differentiated visually by the color of the
'SectionBars' (eg the Bars for Protocol, Continuous Acquisition, Analysis Graphs sections, etc). In
Fig 10.2.8.1, “WinLTP” on the left has the standard white letters on dark blue TitleBars, whereas
“WinLTP 2” on the right has black letters on light blue TitleBars.
2) WinLTP's name on the TaskBar and in the program TitleBar is different for different programs
running. "WinLTP" appears for the first program (using 'Dev1'), "WinLTP 2" appears for the second
program (using 'Dev2', Fig 10.2.8.1).
3) When WinLTP is started, the screen location (if not full screen) is restored to that when last
exited. Therefore, on startup, the different WinLTP acquisition programs will be automatically
placed in different screen locations.
10.2.9 WinLTP Automated Multi-Slice Experiments – Putting it All Together
Now to put it all together, or at least to start to put it all together.
Several ideas have gone into the WinLTP Automated Mult-Slice Experiment Project:
1) As discussed earlier, for now, we will assume that you are using the ‘Strict’ definition of N – one
slice from one animal exposed to the same experimental protocol (including both stimulation and
perfusion solutions), so that if you are using many slices from one animal you have to expose each
slice to a different experimental protocol.
If you are using many slices from one animal and each slice is exposed to the same experimental
protocol, there are many fewer problems, and we won’t deal with them here.
2) As also discussed earlier, WinLTP Advanced Version software and the National Instruments board
are cheap enough to control 1 chamber and perfusion system.
3) A slow migration to multi-slice experiments.
For example, you may first want to try automated perfusion control on your one slice. If you are using a
water bath to pre-heat your solution bottles (which so many doing extracellular slice electrophysiology do),
all you need to do is raise the water bath a couple of decimetres (for pre-flushing gravity flow), hook up