I noticed that people prefer to choose AP when using patch clamp recording, and spike when using MEA recording. To my understanding, a AP must be a spike, but a spike is not necessarily a action potential, am I right?
The two terms are often used interchangeably across neuroscience. The action potential is the change in the membrane potential that is propagated actively down the axon. But in my understanding, individual spikes from multi-unit recordings are not necessarily the result of a single action potential.
Dear Anping,
There is difference between the two. Action potential is generated in the axon initial segment and travels down the axon. Some spikes can be action potentials if they are recorded from the soma or axons; however spikes recorded from dendrites may or may not result in action potentials in the axon hilux.
Best wishes,
Refik
Action potential refers to a rapid, transient change in membrane potential due to opening of voltage-gated Na+ and K+ channels. "Spike" is laboratory jargon deriving from the shape of action potentials, especially when they are observed on a time scales of seconds/minutes.
Albertino
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