期刊论文详细信息
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
ESPINA: a tool for the automated segmentation and counting of synapses in large stacks of electron microscopy images
Lidia eAlonso-Nanclares2  José-Rodrigo eRodriguez2  Javier eDefelipe2  Angel eMerchan-Perez2  Juan eMorales3  Ángel eRodriguez3 
[1] CSIC;Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas;Universidad Politécnica de Madrid;
关键词: Software;    Synapses;    quantification;    Scanning electron microscopy;    segmentation;    3D Reconstruction;   
DOI  :  10.3389/fnana.2011.00018
来源: DOAJ
【 摘 要 】

The synapses in the cerebral cortex can be classified into two main types, Gray’s type I and type II, which correspond to asymmetric (mostly glutamatergic excitatory) and symmetric (inhibitory GABAergic) synapses, respectively. Hence, the quantification and identification of their different types and the proportions in which they are found, is extraordinarily important in terms of brain function. The ideal approach to calculate the number of synapses per unit volume is to analyze three-dimensional samples reconstructed from serial sections. However, obtaining serial sections by transmission electron microscopy is an extremely time consuming and technically demanding task. Using FIB/SEM microscopy, we recently showed that virtually all synapses can be accurately identified as asymmetric or symmetric synapses when they are visualized, reconstructed and quantified from large three-dimensional tissue samples obtained in an automated manner. Nevertheless, the analysis, segmentation and quantification of synapses is still a labor intensive procedure. Thus, novel solutions are currently necessary to deal with the large volume of data that is being generated by automated 3D electron microscopy. Accordingly, we have developed ESPINA, a software tool that performs the automated segmentation and counting of synapses in a reconstructed 3D volume of the cerebral cortex, and that greatly facilitates and accelerates these processes.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   

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