IT Tools

Since synapses are key elements in the structure of nervous circuits, understanding their location, size and proportion between the two different types is extraordinarily important in terms of function.

In this way, EspINA tool automatically performs segmentation and 3D volume reconstruction of synapses in the brain, helping the user to examine large tissue volumes and interactively validate the results provided by the software.

We present a new method with musical feedback for exploring dendritic spine morphology and distribution patterns in pyramidal neurons. We demonstrate that audio analysis of spiny dendrites with apparently similar morphology may “sound” quite different, revealing anatomical substrates that are not apparent from simple visual inspection.

This tool presents a new technique for the generation of three-dimensional models for neuronal cells from the morphological information extracted through computed-aided tracing applications. The 3D polygonal meshes that approximate the cell membrane can be generated at different resolution levels, allowing balance to be reached between the complexity and the quality of the final model.

Neuronize implements a novel approach to generate a realistic 3D shape of the soma from the incomplete information stored in the digitally traced neuron using a physical deformation technique.

The addition of a set of spines along the dendrites completes the model, generating a final 3D neuronal cell suitable for its visualization in a wide range of 3D environments.

We have developed an efficient computational technique to automatically extract the surface from synaptic junctions that have previously been three dimensionally reconstructed from actual tissue samples imaged by automated FIB/SEM.

This technique has been incorporated into EspINA and SAS structures can be computed automatically from reconstructed synapses.