NeuriteQuant: An open source toolkit for high content screens of neuronal Morphogenesis

BMC Neuroscience

Software

Eric Hwang¹  Shelley Halpain²  Gunnar Poplawski²  Leif Dehmelt³ 

[1] Department of Biological Science and Technology, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, 30068;Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, 92093, La Jolla, CA, USA;Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany and Dortmund University of Technology, Otto-Hahn-Str. 11, Otto-Hahn-Str. 6, 44227, 44227, Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany;

关键词: Neurite Outgrowth;    Neuronal Cell Body;    Neuronal Morphology;    Neurite Length;    Primary Hippocampal Neuron;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2202-12-100

 received in 2010-12-08, accepted in 2011-10-11,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTo date, some of the most useful and physiologically relevant neuronal cell culture systems, such as high density co-cultures of astrocytes and primary hippocampal neurons, or differentiated stem cell-derived cultures, are characterized by high cell density and partially overlapping cellular structures. Efficient analytical strategies are required to enable rapid, reliable, quantitative analysis of neuronal morphology in these valuable model systems.ResultsHere we present the development and validation of a novel bioinformatics pipeline called NeuriteQuant. This tool enables fully automated morphological analysis of large-scale image data from neuronal cultures or brain sections that display a high degree of complexity and overlap of neuronal outgrowths. It also provides an efficient web-based tool to review and evaluate the analysis process. In addition to its built-in functionality, NeuriteQuant can be readily extended based on the rich toolset offered by ImageJ and its associated community of developers. As proof of concept we performed automated screens for modulators of neuronal development in cultures of primary neurons and neuronally differentiated P19 stem cells, which demonstrated specific dose-dependent effects on neuronal morphology.ConclusionsNeuriteQuant is a freely available open-source tool for the automated analysis and effective review of large-scale high-content screens. It is especially well suited to quantify the effect of experimental manipulations on physiologically relevant neuronal cultures or brain sections that display a high degree of complexity and overlap among neurites or other cellular structures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Dehmelt et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011