The real neurons: imaging, reconstructing and identifying neurons from serial sections
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1
University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Function follows form; precise neuroanatomical data will let us ask the right questions about the information processing capabilities of neural systems. The process of neuronal reconstruction consists of the composition of accurate three-dimensional models of neurons, with detailed dendritic and axonal arbors detailing the circuit wire diagram.
The only available technology for the nanometer scale reconstruction of neuronal tissue is serial section electron microscopy. While image acquisition speed at the electron microscope has advanced by 3 orders of magnitude over the last decade, the state of the art is still limited to relatively small volumes under milimeter size. The imaging technology is the prime limiting factor, and constrains practical neuronal reconstruction to very small volumes. We thus encounter the present choice: either to concentrate our work on small volumes of large brains, such as thus of vertebrates, or shift our analysis to complete systems of the appropriate size such as the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. The second major challenge is the image segmentation of all sectioned axons and dendrites, and the recognition of synapses. The third challenge is the correlation of the state of the art micrometer-scale neuroanatomical knowledge on insect brains (mostly sparse imaging at the laser-scanning microscope) with the nanometer-scale delivered by electron microscopy. For the purpose of studying the complete brain of the Drosophila larva, myself and others in the neuronal reconstruction community have engaged in the technological development effort towards the automatization of solutions to these challenges, including novel image registration strategies, image recognition algorithms for segmentation, and structural comparison algorithms for the purpose of neuronal recognition and wiring diagram analysis.
Conference:
Neuroinformatics 2009, Pilsen, Czechia, 6 Sep - 8 Sep, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Workshop 5 - The neuroinformatics of neural connectivity
Citation:
Cardona
A
(2019). The real neurons: imaging, reconstructing and identifying neurons from serial sections.
Front. Neuroinform.
Conference Abstract:
Neuroinformatics 2009.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.11.2009.08.138
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Received:
29 Jun 2009;
Published Online:
09 May 2019.
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Correspondence:
Albert Cardona, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, acardona@ini.phys.ethz.ch