1
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Velasco I, Garcia-Cantero JJ, Brito JP, Bayona S, Pastor L, Mata S. NeuroEditor: a tool to edit and visualize neuronal morphologies. Front Neuroanat 2024; 18:1342762. [PMID: 38425804 PMCID: PMC10902916 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2024.1342762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The digital extraction of detailed neuronal morphologies from microscopy data is an essential step in the study of neurons. Ever since Cajal's work, the acquisition and analysis of neuron anatomy has yielded invaluable insight into the nervous system, which has led to our present understanding of many structural and functional aspects of the brain and the nervous system, well beyond the anatomical perspective. Obtaining detailed anatomical data, though, is not a simple task. Despite recent progress, acquiring neuron details still involves using labor-intensive, error prone methods that facilitate the introduction of inaccuracies and mistakes. In consequence, getting reliable morphological tracings usually needs the completion of post-processing steps that require user intervention to ensure the extracted data accuracy. Within this framework, this paper presents NeuroEditor, a new software tool for visualization, editing and correction of previously reconstructed neuronal tracings. This tool has been developed specifically for alleviating the burden associated with the acquisition of detailed morphologies. NeuroEditor offers a set of algorithms that can automatically detect the presence of potential errors in tracings. The tool facilitates users to explore an error with a simple mouse click so that it can be corrected manually or, where applicable, automatically. In some cases, this tool can also propose a set of actions to automatically correct a particular type of error. Additionally, this tool allows users to visualize and compare the original and modified tracings, also providing a 3D mesh that approximates the neuronal membrane. The approximation of this mesh is computed and recomputed on-the-fly, reflecting any instantaneous changes during the tracing process. Moreover, NeuroEditor can be easily extended by users, who can program their own algorithms in Python and run them within the tool. Last, this paper includes an example showing how users can easily define a customized workflow by applying a sequence of editing operations. The edited morphology can then be stored, together with the corresponding 3D mesh that approximates the neuronal membrane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Velasco
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Tulipan, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan J. Garcia-Cantero
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Tulipan, Madrid, Spain
- Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan P. Brito
- Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- DLSIIS, ETSIINF, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sofia Bayona
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Tulipan, Madrid, Spain
- Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Pastor
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Tulipan, Madrid, Spain
- Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Susana Mata
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Tulipan, Madrid, Spain
- Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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2
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Groden M, Moessinger HM, Schaffran B, DeFelipe J, Benavides-Piccione R, Cuntz H, Jedlicka P. A biologically inspired repair mechanism for neuronal reconstructions with a focus on human dendrites. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011267. [PMID: 38394339 PMCID: PMC10917450 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Investigating and modelling the functionality of human neurons remains challenging due to the technical limitations, resulting in scarce and incomplete 3D anatomical reconstructions. Here we used a morphological modelling approach based on optimal wiring to repair the parts of a dendritic morphology that were lost due to incomplete tissue samples. In Drosophila, where dendritic regrowth has been studied experimentally using laser ablation, we found that modelling the regrowth reproduced a bimodal distribution between regeneration of cut branches and invasion by neighbouring branches. Interestingly, our repair model followed growth rules similar to those for the generation of a new dendritic tree. To generalise the repair algorithm from Drosophila to mammalian neurons, we artificially sectioned reconstructed dendrites from mouse and human hippocampal pyramidal cell morphologies, and showed that the regrown dendrites were morphologically similar to the original ones. Furthermore, we were able to restore their electrophysiological functionality, as evidenced by the recovery of their firing behaviour. Importantly, we show that such repairs also apply to other neuron types including hippocampal granule cells and cerebellar Purkinje cells. We then extrapolated the repair to incomplete human CA1 pyramidal neurons, where the anatomical boundaries of the particular brain areas innervated by the neurons in question were known. Interestingly, the repair of incomplete human dendrites helped to simulate the recently observed increased synaptic thresholds for dendritic NMDA spikes in human versus mouse dendrites. To make the repair tool available to the neuroscience community, we have developed an intuitive and simple graphical user interface (GUI), which is available in the TREES toolbox (www.treestoolbox.org).
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Groden
- 3R Computer-Based Modelling, Faculty of Medicine, ICAR3R, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Hannah M. Moessinger
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Barbara Schaffran
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Hermann Cuntz
- 3R Computer-Based Modelling, Faculty of Medicine, ICAR3R, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Peter Jedlicka
- 3R Computer-Based Modelling, Faculty of Medicine, ICAR3R, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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3
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Jiang J, Goebel M, Borba C, Smith W, Manjunath BS. A robust approach to 3D neuron shape representation for quantification and classification. BMC Bioinformatics 2023; 24:366. [PMID: 37770830 PMCID: PMC10537603 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-023-05482-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 09/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/30/2023] Open
Abstract
We consider the problem of finding an accurate representation of neuron shapes, extracting sub-cellular features, and classifying neurons based on neuron shapes. In neuroscience research, the skeleton representation is often used as a compact and abstract representation of neuron shapes. However, existing methods are limited to getting and analyzing "curve" skeletons which can only be applied for tubular shapes. This paper presents a 3D neuron morphology analysis method for more general and complex neuron shapes. First, we introduce the concept of skeleton mesh to represent general neuron shapes and propose a novel method for computing mesh representations from 3D surface point clouds. A skeleton graph is then obtained from skeleton mesh and is used to extract sub-cellular features. Finally, an unsupervised learning method is used to embed the skeleton graph for neuron classification. Extensive experiment results are provided and demonstrate the robustness of our method to analyze neuron morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxiang Jiang
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
| | - Michael Goebel
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
| | - Cezar Borba
- The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, USA
| | - William Smith
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
| | - B S Manjunath
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
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4
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Keto L, Manninen T. CellRemorph: A Toolkit for Transforming, Selecting, and Slicing 3D Cell Structures on the Road to Morphologically Detailed Astrocyte Simulations. Neuroinformatics 2023; 21:483-500. [PMID: 37133688 PMCID: PMC10406679 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-023-09627-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Understanding functions of astrocytes can be greatly enhanced by building and simulating computational models that capture their morphological details. Novel computational tools enable utilization of existing morphological data of astrocytes and building models that have appropriate level of details for specific simulation purposes. In addition to analyzing existing computational tools for constructing, transforming, and assessing astrocyte morphologies, we present here the CellRemorph toolkit implemented as an add-on for Blender, a 3D modeling platform increasingly recognized for its utility for manipulating 3D biological data. To our knowledge, CellRemorph is the first toolkit for transforming astrocyte morphologies from polygonal surface meshes into adjustable surface point clouds and vice versa, precisely selecting nanoprocesses, and slicing morphologies into segments with equal surface areas or volumes. CellRemorph is an open-source toolkit under the GNU General Public License and easily accessible via an intuitive graphical user interface. CellRemorph will be a valuable addition to other Blender add-ons, providing novel functionality that facilitates the creation of realistic astrocyte morphologies for different types of morphologically detailed simulations elucidating the role of astrocytes both in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Keto
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
| | - Tiina Manninen
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
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5
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Jiang J, Goebel M, Borba C, Smith W, Manjunath B. 3D Neuron Morphology Analysis. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2698751. [PMID: 37215037 PMCID: PMC10197748 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2698751/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
We consider the problem of finding an accurate representation of neuron shapes, extracting sub-cellular features, and classifying neurons based on neuron shapes. In neuroscience research, the skeleton representation is often used as a compact and abstract representation of neuron shapes. However, existing methods are limited to getting and analyzing"curve"skeletons which can only be applied for tubular shapes. This paper presents a 3D neuron morphology analysis method for more general and complex neuron shapes. First, we introduce the concept of skeleton mesh to represent general neuron shapes and propose a novel method for computing mesh representations from 3D surface point clouds. A skeleton graph is then obtained from skeleton mesh and is used to extract sub-cellular features. Finally, an unsupervised learning method is used to embed the skeleton graph for neuron classification. Extensive experiment results are provided and demonstrate the robustness of our method to analyze neuron morphology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxiang Jiang
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, US
| | - Michael Goebel
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, US
| | - Cezar Borba
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, US
| | - William Smith
- Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, US
| | - B.S. Manjunath
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, US
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6
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Thalamic control of sensory processing and spindles in a biophysical somatosensory thalamoreticular circuit model of wakefulness and sleep. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112200. [PMID: 36867532 PMCID: PMC10066598 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Revised: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Thalamoreticular circuitry plays a key role in arousal, attention, cognition, and sleep spindles, and is linked to several brain disorders. A detailed computational model of mouse somatosensory thalamus and thalamic reticular nucleus has been developed to capture the properties of over 14,000 neurons connected by 6 million synapses. The model recreates the biological connectivity of these neurons, and simulations of the model reproduce multiple experimental findings in different brain states. The model shows that inhibitory rebound produces frequency-selective enhancement of thalamic responses during wakefulness. We find that thalamic interactions are responsible for the characteristic waxing and waning of spindle oscillations. In addition, we find that changes in thalamic excitability control spindle frequency and their incidence. The model is made openly available to provide a new tool for studying the function and dysfunction of the thalamoreticular circuitry in various brain states.
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7
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Abdellah M, Cantero JJG, Guerrero NR, Foni A, Coggan JS, Calì C, Agus M, Zisis E, Keller D, Hadwiger M, Magistretti PJ, Markram H, Schürmann F. Ultraliser: a framework for creating multiscale, high-fidelity and geometrically realistic 3D models for in silico neuroscience. Brief Bioinform 2022; 24:6847753. [PMID: 36434788 PMCID: PMC9851302 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbac491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Ultraliser is a neuroscience-specific software framework capable of creating accurate and biologically realistic 3D models of complex neuroscientific structures at intracellular (e.g. mitochondria and endoplasmic reticula), cellular (e.g. neurons and glia) and even multicellular scales of resolution (e.g. cerebral vasculature and minicolumns). Resulting models are exported as triangulated surface meshes and annotated volumes for multiple applications in in silico neuroscience, allowing scalable supercomputer simulations that can unravel intricate cellular structure-function relationships. Ultraliser implements a high-performance and unconditionally robust voxelization engine adapted to create optimized watertight surface meshes and annotated voxel grids from arbitrary non-watertight triangular soups, digitized morphological skeletons or binary volumetric masks. The framework represents a major leap forward in simulation-based neuroscience, making it possible to employ high-resolution 3D structural models for quantification of surface areas and volumes, which are of the utmost importance for cellular and system simulations. The power of Ultraliser is demonstrated with several use cases in which hundreds of models are created for potential application in diverse types of simulations. Ultraliser is publicly released under the GNU GPL3 license on GitHub (BlueBrain/Ultraliser). SIGNIFICANCE There is crystal clear evidence on the impact of cell shape on its signaling mechanisms. Structural models can therefore be insightful to realize the function; the more realistic the structure can be, the further we get insights into the function. Creating realistic structural models from existing ones is challenging, particularly when needed for detailed subcellular simulations. We present Ultraliser, a neuroscience-dedicated framework capable of building these structural models with realistic and detailed cellular geometries that can be used for simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwan Abdellah
- Corresponding authors. Marwan Abdellah, Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail: ; Felix Schürmann, Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail:
| | | | - Nadir Román Guerrero
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Alessandro Foni
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jay S Coggan
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Corrado Calì
- Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal, Saudi Arabia,Neuroscience Institute Cavalieri Ottolenghi (NICO) Orbassano, Italy,Department of Neuroscience, University of Torino Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Agus
- Visual Computing Center King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal, Saudi Arabia,College of Science and Engineering Hamad Bin Khalifa University Doha, Qatar
| | - Eleftherios Zisis
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Keller
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Markus Hadwiger
- Visual Computing Center King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Pierre J Magistretti
- Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Henry Markram
- Blue Brain Project (BBP) École Polytecnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Felix Schürmann
- Corresponding authors. Marwan Abdellah, Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail: ; Felix Schürmann, Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland. E-mail:
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8
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Zhu X, Liu X, Liu S, Shen Y, You L, Wang Y. Robust quasi-uniform surface meshing of neuronal morphology using line skeleton-based progressive convolution approximation. Front Neuroinform 2022; 16:953930. [DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2022.953930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Creating high-quality polygonal meshes which represent the membrane surface of neurons for both visualization and numerical simulation purposes is an important yet nontrivial task, due to their irregular and complicated structures. In this paper, we develop a novel approach of constructing a watertight 3D mesh from the abstract point-and-diameter representation of the given neuronal morphology. The membrane shape of the neuron is reconstructed by progressively deforming an initial sphere with the guidance of the neuronal skeleton, which can be regarded as a digital sculpting process. To efficiently deform the surface, a local mapping is adopted to simulate the animation skinning. As a result, only the vertices within the region of influence (ROI) of the current skeletal position need to be updated. The ROI is determined based on the finite-support convolution kernel, which is convolved along the line skeleton of the neuron to generate a potential field that further smooths the overall surface at both unidirectional and bifurcating regions. Meanwhile, the mesh quality during the entire evolution is always guaranteed by a set of quasi-uniform rules, which split excessively long edges, collapse undersized ones, and adjust vertices within the tangent plane to produce regular triangles. Additionally, the local vertices density on the result mesh is decided by the radius and curvature of neurites to achieve adaptiveness.
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9
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nGauge: Integrated and Extensible Neuron Morphology Analysis in Python. Neuroinformatics 2022; 20:755-764. [PMID: 35247136 PMCID: PMC9720862 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-022-09573-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The study of neuron morphology requires robust and comprehensive methods to quantify the differences between neurons of different subtypes and animal species. Several software packages have been developed for the analysis of neuron tracing results stored in the standard SWC format. The packages, however, provide relatively simple quantifications and their non-extendable architecture prohibit their use for advanced data analysis and visualization. We developed nGauge, a Python toolkit to support the parsing and analysis of neuron morphology data. As an application programming interface (API), nGauge can be referenced by other popular open-source software to create custom informatics analysis pipelines and advanced visualizations. nGauge defines an extendable data structure that handles volumetric constructions (e.g. soma), in addition to the SWC linear reconstructions, while remaining lightweight. This greatly extends nGauge's data compatibility.
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10
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Chindemi G, Abdellah M, Amsalem O, Benavides-Piccione R, Delattre V, Doron M, Ecker A, Jaquier AT, King J, Kumbhar P, Monney C, Perin R, Rössert C, Tuncel AM, Van Geit W, DeFelipe J, Graupner M, Segev I, Markram H, Muller EB. A calcium-based plasticity model for predicting long-term potentiation and depression in the neocortex. Nat Commun 2022; 13:3038. [PMID: 35650191 PMCID: PMC9160074 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30214-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Pyramidal cells (PCs) form the backbone of the layered structure of the neocortex, and plasticity of their synapses is thought to underlie learning in the brain. However, such long-term synaptic changes have been experimentally characterized between only a few types of PCs, posing a significant barrier for studying neocortical learning mechanisms. Here we introduce a model of synaptic plasticity based on data-constrained postsynaptic calcium dynamics, and show in a neocortical microcircuit model that a single parameter set is sufficient to unify the available experimental findings on long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) of PC connections. In particular, we find that the diverse plasticity outcomes across the different PC types can be explained by cell-type-specific synaptic physiology, cell morphology and innervation patterns, without requiring type-specific plasticity. Generalizing the model to in vivo extracellular calcium concentrations, we predict qualitatively different plasticity dynamics from those observed in vitro. This work provides a first comprehensive null model for LTP/LTD between neocortical PC types in vivo, and an open framework for further developing models of cortical synaptic plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Chindemi
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Marwan Abdellah
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Oren Amsalem
- Department of Neurobiology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Vincent Delattre
- Laboratory of Neural Microcircuitry, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Michael Doron
- Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - András Ecker
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Aurélien T Jaquier
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - James King
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Pramod Kumbhar
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Caitlin Monney
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Rodrigo Perin
- Laboratory of Neural Microcircuitry, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Christian Rössert
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Anil M Tuncel
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Werner Van Geit
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Michael Graupner
- Université de Paris, SPPIN - Saints-Pères Paris Institute for the Neurosciences, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Idan Segev
- Department of Neurobiology, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Henry Markram
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.,Laboratory of Neural Microcircuitry, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Eilif B Muller
- Blue Brain Project, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland. .,Department of Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada. .,CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada. .,Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute (Mila), Montréal, Canada.
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11
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Huang Q, Cao T, Zeng S, Li A, Quan T. Minimizing probability graph connectivity cost for discontinuous filamentary structures tracing in neuron image. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 2022; 26:3092-3103. [PMID: 35104232 DOI: 10.1109/jbhi.2022.3147512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Neuron tracing from optical image is critical in understanding brain function in diseases. A key problem is to trace discontinuous filamentary structures from noisy background, which is commonly encountered in neuronal and some medical images. Broken traces lead to cumulative topological errors, and current methods were hard to assemble various fragmentary traces for correct connection. In this paper, we propose a graph connectivity theoretical method for precise filamentary structure tracing in neuron image. First, we build the initial subgraphs of signals via a region-to-region based tracing method on CNN predicted probability. CNN technique removes noise interference, whereas its prediction for some elongated fragments is still incomplete. Second, we reformulate the global connection problem of individual or fragmented subgraphs under heuristic graph restrictions as a dynamic linear programming function via minimizing graph connectivity cost, where the connected cost of breakpoints are calculated using their probability strength via minimum cost path. Experimental results on challenging neuronal images proved that the proposed method outperformed existing methods and achieved similar results of manual tracing, even in some complex discontinuous issues. Performances on vessel images indicate the potential of the method for some other tubular objects tracing.
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12
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Abstract
In 2001, the concept of the neurovascular unit was introduced at the Stroke Progress Review Group meeting. The neurovascular unit is an important element of the health and disease status of blood vessels and nerves in the central nervous system. Since then, the neurovascular unit has attracted increasing interest from research teams, who have contributed greatly to the prevention, treatment, and prognosis of stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, additional research is needed to establish an efficient, low-cost, and low-energy in vitro model of the neurovascular unit, as well as enable noninvasive observation of neurovascular units in vivo and in vitro. In this review, we first summarize the composition of neurovascular units, then investigate the efficacy of different types of stem cells and cell culture methods in the construction of neurovascular unit models, and finally assess the progress of imaging methods used to observe neurovascular units in recent years and their positive role in the monitoring and investigation of the mechanisms of a variety of central nervous system diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taiwei Dong
- College of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
| | - Min Li
- College of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
| | - Feng Gao
- College of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
| | - Peifeng Wei
- College of Pharmacy, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
| | - Jian Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan Provinve, China
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13
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Bijari K, Valera G, López-Schier H, Ascoli GA. Quantitative neuronal morphometry by supervised and unsupervised learning. STAR Protoc 2021; 2:100867. [PMID: 34647039 PMCID: PMC8496329 DOI: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a protocol to characterize the morphological properties of individual neurons reconstructed from microscopic imaging. We first describe a simple procedure to extract relevant morphological features from digital tracings of neural arbors. Then, we provide detailed steps on classification, clustering, and statistical analysis of the traced cells based on morphological features. We illustrate the pipeline design using specific examples from zebrafish anatomy. Our approach can be readily applied and generalized to the characterization of axonal, dendritic, or glial geometry. For complete context and scientific motivation for the studies and datasets used here, refer to Valera et al. (2021).
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Affiliation(s)
- Kayvan Bijari
- Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, & Plasticity and Neuroscience Program, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Gema Valera
- Sensory Biology and Organogenesis, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Hernán López-Schier
- Sensory Biology and Organogenesis, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Giorgio A. Ascoli
- Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, & Plasticity and Neuroscience Program, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
- Bioengineering Department, Volgenau School of Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22032, USA
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14
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Abdellah M, Foni A, Zisis E, Guerrero NR, Lapere S, Coggan JS, Keller D, Markram H, Schürmann F. Metaball skinning of synthetic astroglial morphologies into realistic mesh models for visual analytics and in silico simulations. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:i426-i433. [PMID: 34252950 PMCID: PMC8275327 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation Astrocytes, the most abundant glial cells in the mammalian brain, have an instrumental role in developing neuronal circuits. They contribute to the physical structuring of the brain, modulating synaptic activity and maintaining the blood–brain barrier in addition to other significant aspects that impact brain function. Biophysically, detailed astrocytic models are key to unraveling their functional mechanisms via molecular simulations at microscopic scales. Detailed, and complete, biological reconstructions of astrocytic cells are sparse. Nonetheless, data-driven digital reconstruction of astroglial morphologies that are statistically identical to biological counterparts are becoming available. We use those synthetic morphologies to generate astrocytic meshes with realistic geometries, making it possible to perform these simulations. Results We present an unconditionally robust method capable of reconstructing high fidelity polygonal meshes of astroglial cells from algorithmically-synthesized morphologies. Our method uses implicit surfaces, or metaballs, to skin the different structural components of astrocytes and then blend them in a seamless fashion. We also provide an end-to-end pipeline to produce optimized two- and three-dimensional meshes for visual analytics and simulations, respectively. The performance of our pipeline has been assessed with a group of 5000 astroglial morphologies and the geometric metrics of the resulting meshes are evaluated. The usability of the meshes is then demonstrated with different use cases. Availability and implementation Our metaball skinning algorithm is implemented in Blender 2.82 relying on its Python API (Application Programming Interface). To make it accessible to computational biologists and neuroscientists, the implementation has been integrated into NeuroMorphoVis, an open source and domain specific package that is primarily designed for neuronal morphology visualization and meshing. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwan Abdellah
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Alessandro Foni
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Eleftherios Zisis
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Nadir Román Guerrero
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Samuel Lapere
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Jay S Coggan
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Keller
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Henry Markram
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Felix Schürmann
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
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15
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Bingham CS, Parent M, McIntyre CC. Histology-driven model of the macaque motor hyperdirect pathway. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:2087-2097. [PMID: 34091730 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02307-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Emerging appreciation for the hyperdirect pathway (HDP) as an important cortical glutamatergic input to the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has motivated a wide range of recent investigations on its role in motor control, as well as the mechanisms of subthalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS). However, the pathway anatomy and terminal arbor morphometry by which the HDP links cortical and subthalamic activity are incompletely understood. One critical hindrance to advancing understanding is the lack of anatomically detailed population models which can help explain how HDP pathway anatomy and neuronal biophysics give rise to spatiotemporal patterns of stimulus-response activity observed in vivo. Therefore, the goal of this study was to establish a population model of motor HDP axons through application of generative algorithms constrained by recent histology and imaging data. The products of this effort include a de novo macaque brain atlas, detailed statistical analysis of histological reconstructions of macaque motor HDP axons, and the generation of 10,000 morphometrically constrained synthetic motor HDP axons. The synthetic HDP axons exhibited a 3.8% mean error with respect to parametric distributions of the fiber target volume, total length, number of bifurcations, bifurcation angles, meander angles, and segment lengths measured in BDA-labeled HDP axon reconstructions. As such, this large population of synthetic motor HDP axons represents an anatomically based foundation for biophysical simulations that can be coupled to electrophysiological and/or behavioral measurements, with the goal of better understanding the role of the HDP in motor system activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clayton S Bingham
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2103 Cornell Road, Rm 6224, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA
| | - Martin Parent
- CERVO Brain Research Center, Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Laval, Quebec, Canada
| | - Cameron C McIntyre
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2103 Cornell Road, Rm 6224, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA.
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16
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Mousa MH, Elbasiouny SM. Estimating the effects of slicing on the electrophysiological properties of spinal motoneurons under normal and disease conditions. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:1450-1467. [PMID: 33689515 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00543.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Although slice recordings from spinal motoneurons (MNs) are being widely used, the effects of slicing on the measured MN electrical properties under normal and disease conditions have not been assessed. Using high-fidelity cell models of neonatal wild-type (WT) and superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD) cells, we examined the effects of slice thickness, soma position within the slice, and slice orientation to estimate the error induced in measured MN electrical properties from spinal slices. Our results show that most MN electrical properties are not adversely affected by slicing, except for cell time constant, cell capacitance, and Ca2+ persistent inward current (PIC), which all exhibited large errors, regardless of the slice condition. Among the examined factors, soma position within the slice appears to be the strongest factor in influencing the magnitude of error in measured MN electrical properties. Transverse slices appear to have the least impact on measured MN electrical properties. Surprisingly, and despite their anatomical enlargement, we found that G85R-SOD MNs experience similar error in their measured electrical properties to those of WT MNs, but their errors are more sensitive to the soma position within the slice than WT MNs. Unless in thick and symmetrical slices, slicing appears to reduce motoneuron type differences. Accordingly, slice studies should attempt to record from MNs at the slice center to avoid large and inconsistent errors in measured cell properties and have valid cell measurements' comparisons. Our results, therefore, offer information that would enhance the rigor of MN electrophysiological data measured from the slice preparation under normal and disease conditions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Although slice recordings from motoneurons are being widely used, the effects of slicing on the measured motoneuron electrical properties under normal and disease conditions have not been assessed. Using high-fidelity cell models of neonatal WT and SOD cells, we examined the effects of slice thickness, soma position within the slice, and slice orientation. Our results offer information that enhances the rigor of MN electrophysiological data measured from the slice preparation under normal and disease conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed H Mousa
- Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
| | - Sherif M Elbasiouny
- Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology, and Physiology, Boonshoft School of Medicine and College of Science and Mathematics, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.,Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
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17
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O'Leary LA, Belliveau C, Davoli MA, Ma JC, Tanti A, Turecki G, Mechawar N. Widespread Decrease of Cerebral Vimentin-Immunoreactive Astrocytes in Depressed Suicides. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:640963. [PMID: 33613346 PMCID: PMC7890082 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.640963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 01/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Post-mortem investigations have implicated cerebral astrocytes immunoreactive (-IR) for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the etiopathology of depression and suicide. However, it remains unclear whether astrocytic subpopulations IR for other astrocytic markers are similarly affected. Astrocytes IR to vimentin (VIM) display different regional densities than GFAP-IR astrocytes in the healthy brain, and so may be differently altered in depression and suicide. To investigate this, we compared the densities of GFAP-IR astrocytes and VIM-IR astrocytes in post-mortem brain samples from depressed suicides and matched non-psychiatric controls in three brain regions (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, dorsal caudate nucleus and mediodorsal thalamus). A quantitative comparison of the fine morphology of VIM-IR astrocytes was also performed in the same regions and subjects. Finally, given the close association between astrocytes and blood vessels, we also assessed densities of CD31-IR blood vessels. Like for GFAP-IR astrocytes, VIM-IR astrocyte densities were found to be globally reduced in depressed suicides relative to controls. By contrast, CD31-IR blood vessel density and VIM-IR astrocyte morphometric features in these regions were similar between groups, except in prefrontal white matter, in which vascularization was increased and astrocytes displayed fewer primary processes. By revealing a widespread reduction of cerebral VIM-IR astrocytes in cases vs. controls, these findings further implicate astrocytic dysfunctions in depression and suicide.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam Anuj O'Leary
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada.,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Claudia Belliveau
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada.,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Maria Antonietta Davoli
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada
| | - Jie Christopher Ma
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada
| | - Arnaud Tanti
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada
| | - Gustavo Turecki
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada.,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Naguib Mechawar
- McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Verdun, QC, Canada.,Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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18
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Velasco I, Toharia P, Benavides-Piccione R, Fernaud-Espinosa I, Brito JP, Mata S, DeFelipe J, Pastor L, Bayona S. Neuronize v2: Bridging the Gap Between Existing Proprietary Tools to Optimize Neuroscientific Workflows. Front Neuroanat 2020; 14:585793. [PMID: 33192345 PMCID: PMC7646287 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2020.585793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Knowledge about neuron morphology is key to understanding brain structure and function. There are a variety of software tools that are used to segment and trace the neuron morphology. However, these tools usually utilize proprietary formats. This causes interoperability problems since the information extracted with one tool cannot be used in other tools. This article aims to improve neuronal reconstruction workflows by facilitating the interoperability between two of the most commonly used software tools—Neurolucida (NL) and Imaris (Filament Tracer). The new functionality has been included in an existing tool—Neuronize—giving rise to its second version. Neuronize v2 makes it possible to automatically use the data extracted with Imaris Filament Tracer to generate a tracing with dendritic spine information that can be read directly by NL. It also includes some other new features, such as the ability to unify and/or correct inaccurately-formed meshes (i.e., dendritic spines) and to calculate new metrics. This tool greatly facilitates the process of neuronal reconstruction, bridging the gap between existing proprietary tools to optimize neuroscientific workflows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Velasco
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Pablo Toharia
- DATSI, ETSIINF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Isabel Fernaud-Espinosa
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan P Brito
- DLSIIS, ETSIINF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Susana Mata
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, Madrid, Spain.,Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Pastor
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Sofia Bayona
- Department of Computer Science, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.,Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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19
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Huang Q, Chen Y, Liu S, Xu C, Cao T, Xu Y, Wang X, Rao G, Li A, Zeng S, Quan T. Weakly Supervised Learning of 3D Deep Network for Neuron Reconstruction. Front Neuroanat 2020; 14:38. [PMID: 32848636 PMCID: PMC7399060 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2020.00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Digital reconstruction or tracing of 3D tree-like neuronal structures from optical microscopy images is essential for understanding the functionality of neurons and reveal the connectivity of neuronal networks. Despite the existence of numerous tracing methods, reconstructing a neuron from highly noisy images remains challenging, particularly for neurites with low and inhomogeneous intensities. Conducting deep convolutional neural network (CNN)-based segmentation prior to neuron tracing facilitates an approach to solving this problem via separation of weak neurites from a noisy background. However, large manual annotations are needed in deep learning-based methods, which is labor-intensive and limits the algorithm's generalization for different datasets. In this study, we present a weakly supervised learning method of a deep CNN for neuron reconstruction without manual annotations. Specifically, we apply a 3D residual CNN as the architecture for discriminative neuronal feature extraction. We construct the initial pseudo-labels (without manual segmentation) of the neuronal images on the basis of an existing automatic tracing method. A weakly supervised learning framework is proposed via iterative training of the CNN model for improved prediction and refining of the pseudo-labels to update training samples. The pseudo-label was iteratively modified via mining and addition of weak neurites from the CNN predicted probability map on the basis of their tubularity and continuity. The proposed method was evaluated on several challenging images from the public BigNeuron and Diadem datasets, to fMOST datasets. Owing to the adaption of 3D deep CNNs and weakly supervised learning, the presented method demonstrates effective detection of weak neurites from noisy images and achieves results similar to those of the CNN model with manual annotations. The tracing performance was significantly improved by the proposed method on both small and large datasets (>100 GB). Moreover, the proposed method proved to be superior to several novel tracing methods on original images. The results obtained on various large-scale datasets demonstrated the generalization and high precision achieved by the proposed method for neuron reconstruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Huang
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Yijun Chen
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Shijie Liu
- School of Mathematics and Physics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Cheng Xu
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Tingting Cao
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Yongchao Xu
- School of Electronics Information and Communications, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Xiaojun Wang
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Gong Rao
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Anan Li
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Shaoqun Zeng
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
| | - Tingwei Quan
- Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong, Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
- Ministry of Education (MoE) Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
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20
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Abdellah M, Guerrero NR, Lapere S, Coggan JS, Keller D, Coste B, Dagar S, Courcol JD, Markram H, Schürmann F. Interactive visualization and analysis of morphological skeletons of brain vasculature networks with VessMorphoVis. Bioinformatics 2020; 36:i534-i541. [PMID: 32657395 PMCID: PMC7355309 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Accurate morphological models of brain vasculature are key to modeling and simulating cerebral blood flow in realistic vascular networks. This in silico approach is fundamental to revealing the principles of neurovascular coupling. Validating those vascular morphologies entails performing certain visual analysis tasks that cannot be accomplished with generic visualization frameworks. This limitation has a substantial impact on the accuracy of the vascular models employed in the simulation. RESULTS We present VessMorphoVis, an integrated suite of toolboxes for interactive visualization and analysis of vast brain vascular networks represented by morphological graphs segmented originally from imaging or microscopy stacks. Our workflow leverages the outstanding potentials of Blender, aiming to establish an integrated, extensible and domain-specific framework capable of interactive visualization, analysis, repair, high-fidelity meshing and high-quality rendering of vascular morphologies. Based on the initial feedback of the users, we anticipate that our framework will be an essential component in vascular modeling and simulation in the future, filling a gap that is at present largely unfulfilled. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION VessMorphoVis is freely available under the GNU public license on Github at https://github.com/BlueBrain/VessMorphoVis. The morphology analysis, visualization, meshing and rendering modules are implemented as an add-on for Blender 2.8 based on its Python API (application programming interface). The add-on functionality is made available to users through an intuitive graphical user interface, as well as through exhaustive configuration files calling the API via a feature-rich command line interface running Blender in background mode. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marwan Abdellah
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nadir Román Guerrero
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Samuel Lapere
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jay S Coggan
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Daniel Keller
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Benoit Coste
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Snigdha Dagar
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Denis Courcol
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Henry Markram
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Felix Schürmann
- Blue Brain Project (BBP), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Campus Biotech, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
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21
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Iyengar RS, Pithapuram MV, Singh AK, Raghavan M. Curated Model Development Using NEUROiD: A Web-Based NEUROmotor Integration and Design Platform. Front Neuroinform 2019; 13:56. [PMID: 31440153 PMCID: PMC6693358 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2019.00056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Decades of research on neuromotor circuits and systems has provided valuable information on neuronal control of movement. Computational models of several elements of the neuromotor system have been developed at various scales, from sub-cellular to system. While several small models abound, their structured integration is the key to building larger and more biologically realistic models which can predict the behavior of the system in different scenarios. This effort calls for integration of elements across neuroscience and musculoskeletal biomechanics. There is also a need for development of methods and tools for structured integration that yield larger in silico models demonstrating a set of desired system responses. We take a small step in this direction with the NEUROmotor integration and Design (NEUROiD) platform. NEUROiD helps integrate results from motor systems anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics into an integrated neuromotor system model. Simulation and visualization of the model across multiple scales is supported. Standard electrophysiological operations such as slicing, current injection, recording of membrane potential, and local field potential are part of NEUROiD. The platform allows traceability of model parameters to primary literature. We illustrate the power and utility of NEUROiD by building a simple ankle model and its controlling neural circuitry by curating a set of published components. NEUROiD allows researchers to utilize remote high-performance computers for simulation, while controlling the model using a web browser.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raghu Sesha Iyengar
- Spine Labs, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Madhav Vinodh Pithapuram
- Spine Labs, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Avinash Kumar Singh
- Spine Labs, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
| | - Mohan Raghavan
- Spine Labs, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, India
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22
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Head-to-nerve analysis of electromechanical impairments of diffuse axonal injury. Biomech Model Mechanobiol 2018; 18:361-374. [PMID: 30430371 DOI: 10.1007/s10237-018-1086-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2017] [Accepted: 10/20/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The aim was to investigate mechanical and functional failure of diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in nerve bundles following frontal head impacts, by finite element simulations. Anatomical changes following traumatic brain injury are simulated at the macroscale by using a 3D head model. Frontal head impacts at speeds of 2.5-7.5 m/s induce mild-to-moderate DAI in the white matter of the brain. Investigation of the changes in induced electromechanical responses at the cellular level is carried out in two scaled nerve bundle models, one with myelinated nerve fibres, the other with unmyelinated nerve fibres. DAI occurrence is simulated by using a real-time fully coupled electromechanical framework, which combines a modulated threshold for spiking activation and independent alteration of the electrical properties for each three-layer fibre in the nerve bundle models. The magnitudes of simulated strains in the white matter of the brain model are used to determine the displacement boundary conditions in elongation simulations using the 3D nerve bundle models. At high impact speed, mechanical failure occurs at lower strain values in large unmyelinated bundles than in myelinated bundles or small unmyelinated bundles; signal propagation continues in large myelinated bundles during and after loading, although there is a large shift in baseline voltage during loading; a linear relationship is observed between the generated plastic strain in the nerve bundle models and the impact speed and nominal strains of the head model. The myelin layer protects the fibre from mechanical damage, preserving its functionalities.
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