Utility of the wavelet transform to analyze the stationarity of single ionic channel recordings.

Wavelet transform, a time-scale analysis, is presented as a new tool to analyze single-channel recordings. This method makes it possible to verify the stationarity, to identify episodes of change in the kinetic channel behavior (burst, flickering, cooperativity) or episodes of noise, and to localize stationary segments in long single-channel current recordings. It can help the conventional analysis of the kinetic behavior of ionic channels leading to better understand the gating mechanism.