Hi, I am planning to buy a stimulator, but thought the function generator - with the pulse generator option could be used instead as a cheaper alternative for triggering an optogenetic setup from Thorlabs. A function generator could also generate a train of pulses/ defined duration etc... Please let me know if we can do that and the pros and cons of such a setup. Thank you in advance.
Hi Srinivasa, the answer really depends on what kind of stimulation you require. If you just need to trigger optogenetics flashing at a set frequency, you can easily make something very cheap using Arduino. For example, I have made a TTL generator for optogenetics stimulation that you can build yourself (https://hackaday.io/project/184318-optogenetics-ttl-driver) or buy relatively cheaply (https://nicneuro.net/product/single-channel-ttl/).
However, if you need to generate more complex pulses, for example for controlling electrophysiology waveforms, then you can use something like PulsePal (https://open-ephys.org/pulsepal?rq=pulse).
Or even the Pulser from Prizmatix (https://www.prizmatix.com/Optogenetics/Prizmatix-in-vivo-Optogenetics-Toolbox.htm#pls), which connects to a pc and you can set up complex stimulation patterns.
Thank you, Nicolas, I think Pulsepal will help my experiments.
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