Figure 2.

Determining a critical gap to separate bursts. Mean first burst duration is plotted as a function of the duration of the gap (closed interval) used to define the end of the burst. Results are with the same channel analyzed for Fig. 3, where the experimental details are presented. The critical gap was selected as 10 ms for both 0 and 10 mM Mg²⁺. This selection falls on the part of the curves where burst duration is less dependent on gap duration for both 0 and 10 mM Mg²⁺. Selecting the critical gap in this manner provides a functional definition of bursts, as shown in the diagram, and allows the use of the same critical gap for both 0 and 10 mM Mg²⁺, facilitating direct comparison of gating parameters because the same identical analysis was used for each.