2021/12/13 by Andrea Beháňová, Ali Abdollahzadeh, Behanova, Andrea +9
Medicine · #Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2112.06476
Background and Objective: Advances in electron microscopy (EM) now allow\nthree-dimensional (3D) imaging of hundreds of micrometers of tissue with\nnanometer-scale resolution, providing new opportunities to study the\nultrastructure of the brain. In this work, we introduce a freely available\nMatlab-based gACSON software for visualization, segmentation, assessment, and\nmorphology analysis of myelinated axons in 3D-EM volumes of brain tissue\nsamples. Methods: The software is equipped with a graphical user interface\n(GUI). It automatically segments the intra-axonal space of myelinated axons and\ntheir corresponding myelin sheaths and allows manual segmentation,\nproofreading, and interactive correction of the segmented components. gACSON\nanalyzes the morphology of myelinated axons, such as axonal diameter, axonal\neccentricity, myelin thickness, or g-ratio. Results: We illustrate the use of\nthe software by segmenting and analyzing myelinated axons in six 3D-EM volumes\nof rat somatosensory cortex after sham surgery or traumatic brain injury (TBI).\nOur results suggest that the equivalent diameter of myelinated axons in\nsomatosensory cortex was decreased in TBI animals five months after the injury.\nConclusions: Our results indicate that gACSON is a valuable tool for\nvisualization, segmentation, assessment, and morphology analysis of myelinated\naxons in 3D-EM volumes. It is freely available at\nhttps://github.com/AndreaBehan/g-ACSON under the MIT license.\n