TY - JOUR T1 - meaRtools: an R Package for the Comprehensive Analysis of Neuronal Networks Recorded on Multi-Electrode Arrays JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/242065 SP - 242065 AU - Sahar Gelfman AU - Quanli Wang AU - Yi-Fan Lu AU - Diana Hall AU - Chris Bostick AU - Ryan Dhindsa AU - Matt Halvorsen AU - K. Melodi McSweeney AU - Ellesse Cotterill AU - Tom Edinburgh AU - Slavé Petrovski AU - Michael J. Boland AU - Andrew S. Allen AU - David B. Goldstein AU - Stephen J. Eglen Y1 - 2018/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/03/242065.abstract N2 - Here we present an open-source R package ‘meaRtools’ that provides a platform for analyzing neuronal networks recorded on Multi-Electrode Arrays (MEAs). Cultured neuronal networks monitored with MEAs are now being widely used to characterize in vitro models of neurological disorders and to evaluate pharmaceutical compounds. meaRtools provides core algorithms for MEA spike train analysis, feature extraction, statistical analysis and plotting of multiple MEA recordings with multiple genotypes and treatments. meaRtools functionality covers novel solutions for spike train analysis, including algorithms to assess electrode cross-correlation using the spike train tiling coefficient (STTC), mutual information, network burst synchronization and entropy within cultured wells. Also integrated is a solution to account for bursts variability originating from mixed-cell neuronal cultures. The package provides a statistical platform built specifically for MEA data that can combine multiple MEA recordings and compare extracted features between different genetic models or treatments. We demonstrate the utilization of meaRtools to successfully identify epilepsy-like phenotypes in neuronal networks from Celf4 KO mice as well as the pharmacological correction of phenotypes. The package is freely available under the GPL license (GPL>=3) and is updated frequently on the CRAN web-server repository. The package, along with full documentation can be downloaded from: https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/meaRtools/. ER -