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Zehtabian A, Fuchs J, Eickholt BJ, Ewers H. Automated Analysis of Neuronal Morphology in 2D Fluorescence Micrographs through an Unsupervised Semantic Segmentation of Neurons. Neuroscience 2024; 551:333-344. [PMID: 38838980 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2024.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
Brain function emerges from a highly complex network of specialized cells that are interlinked by billions of synapses. The synaptic connectivity between neurons is established between the elongated processes of their axons and dendrites or, together, neurites. To establish these connections, cellular neurites have to grow in highly specialized, cell-type dependent patterns covering extensive distances and connecting with thousands of other neurons. The outgrowth and branching of neurites are tightly controlled during development and are a commonly used functional readout of imaging in the neurosciences. Manual analysis of neuronal morphology from microscopy images, however, is very time intensive and prone to bias. Most automated analyses of neurons rely on reconstruction of the neuron as a whole without a semantic analysis of each neurite. A fully-automated classification of all neurites still remains unavailable in open-source software. Here we present a standalone, GUI-based software for batch-quantification of neuronal morphology in two-dimensional fluorescence micrographs of cultured neurons with minimal requirements for user interaction. Single neurons are first reconstructed into binarized images using a Hessian-based segmentation algorithm to detect thin neurite structures combined with intensity- and shape-based reconstruction of the cell body. Neurites are then classified into axon, dendrites and their branches of increasing order using a geodesic distance transform of the cell skeleton. The software was benchmarked against a published dataset and reproduced the phenotype observed after manual annotation. Our tool promises accelerated and improved morphometric studies of neuronal morphology by allowing for consistent and automated analysis of large datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amin Zehtabian
- Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Thielallee 63, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Joachim Fuchs
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Virchowweg 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Britta J Eickholt
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Virchowweg 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Helge Ewers
- Institute for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Thielallee 63, 14195 Berlin, Germany
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2
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Leite J, Nhoatto F, Jacob A, Santana R, Lobato F. Computational Tools for Neuronal Morphometric Analysis: A Systematic Search and Review. Neuroinformatics 2024:10.1007/s12021-024-09674-6. [PMID: 38922389 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-024-09674-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024]
Abstract
Morphometry is fundamental for studying and correlating neuronal morphology with brain functions. With increasing computational power, it is possible to extract morphometric characteristics automatically, including features such as length, volume, and number of neuron branches. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no mapping of morphometric tools yet. In this context, we conducted a systematic search and review to identify and analyze tools within the scope of neuron analysis. Thus, the work followed a well-defined protocol and sought to answer the following research questions: What open-source tools are available for neuronal morphometric analysis? What morphometric characteristics are extracted by these tools? For this, aiming for greater robustness and coverage, the study was based on the paper analysis as well as the study of documentation and tests with the tools available in repositories. We analyzed 1,586 papers and mapped 23 tools, where NeuroM, L-Measure, and NeuroMorphoVis extract the most features. Furthermore, we contribute to the body of knowledge with the unprecedented presentation of 150 unique morphometric features whose terminologies were categorized and standardized. Overall, the study contributes to advancing the understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jéssica Leite
- Institute of Engineering and Geosciences, Federal University of Western Pará, Santarém, Pará, Brazil
| | - Fabiano Nhoatto
- Institute of Engineering and Geosciences, Federal University of Western Pará, Santarém, Pará, Brazil
| | - Antonio Jacob
- Department of Computer Engineering, State University of Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil
| | - Roberto Santana
- Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, University of the Basque Country, Donostia/San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa, Spain
| | - Fábio Lobato
- Institute of Engineering and Geosciences, Federal University of Western Pará, Santarém, Pará, Brazil.
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3
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Choi YK, Feng L, Jeong WK, Kim J. Connecto-informatics at the mesoscale: current advances in image processing and analysis for mapping the brain connectivity. Brain Inform 2024; 11:15. [PMID: 38833195 DOI: 10.1186/s40708-024-00228-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Mapping neural connections within the brain has been a fundamental goal in neuroscience to understand better its functions and changes that follow aging and diseases. Developments in imaging technology, such as microscopy and labeling tools, have allowed researchers to visualize this connectivity through high-resolution brain-wide imaging. With this, image processing and analysis have become more crucial. However, despite the wealth of neural images generated, access to an integrated image processing and analysis pipeline to process these data is challenging due to scattered information on available tools and methods. To map the neural connections, registration to atlases and feature extraction through segmentation and signal detection are necessary. In this review, our goal is to provide an updated overview of recent advances in these image-processing methods, with a particular focus on fluorescent images of the mouse brain. Our goal is to outline a pathway toward an integrated image-processing pipeline tailored for connecto-informatics. An integrated workflow of these image processing will facilitate researchers' approach to mapping brain connectivity to better understand complex brain networks and their underlying brain functions. By highlighting the image-processing tools available for fluroscent imaging of the mouse brain, this review will contribute to a deeper grasp of connecto-informatics, paving the way for better comprehension of brain connectivity and its implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoon Kyoung Choi
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, South Korea
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
| | | | - Won-Ki Jeong
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Jinhyun Kim
- Brain Science Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul, South Korea.
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
- KIST-SKKU Brain Research Center, SKKU Institute for Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea.
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4
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Donovan EJ, Agrawal A, Liberman N, Kalai JI, Adler AJ, Lamper AM, Wang HQ, Chua NJ, Koslover EF, Barnhart EL. Dendrite architecture determines mitochondrial distribution patterns in vivo. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114190. [PMID: 38717903 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114190] [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: 07/17/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Neuronal morphology influences synaptic connectivity and neuronal signal processing. However, it remains unclear how neuronal shape affects steady-state distributions of organelles like mitochondria. In this work, we investigated the link between mitochondrial transport and dendrite branching patterns by combining mathematical modeling with in vivo measurements of dendrite architecture, mitochondrial motility, and mitochondrial localization patterns in Drosophila HS (horizontal system) neurons. In our model, different forms of morphological and transport scaling rules-which set the relative thicknesses of parent and daughter branches at each junction in the dendritic arbor and link mitochondrial motility to branch thickness-predict dramatically different global mitochondrial localization patterns. We show that HS dendrites obey the specific subset of scaling rules that, in our model, lead to realistic mitochondrial distributions. Moreover, we demonstrate that neuronal activity does not affect mitochondrial transport or localization, indicating that steady-state mitochondrial distributions are hard-wired by the architecture of the neuron.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eavan J Donovan
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Anamika Agrawal
- Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92092, USA
| | - Nicole Liberman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Jordan I Kalai
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Avi J Adler
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Adam M Lamper
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Hailey Q Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Nicholas J Chua
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Elena F Koslover
- Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92092, USA
| | - Erin L Barnhart
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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5
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Moreno-Sanchez A, Vasserman AN, Jang H, Hina BW, von Reyn CR, Ausborn J. Morphology and synapse topography optimize linear encoding of synapse numbers in Drosophila looming responsive descending neurons. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.24.591016. [PMID: 38712267 PMCID: PMC11071487 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.24.591016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
Synapses are often precisely organized on dendritic arbors, yet the role of synaptic topography in dendritic integration remains poorly understood. Utilizing electron microscopy (EM) connectomics we investigate synaptic topography in Drosophila melanogaster looming circuits, focusing on retinotopically tuned visual projection neurons (VPNs) that synapse onto descending neurons (DNs). Synapses of a given VPN type project to non-overlapping regions on DN dendrites. Within these spatially constrained clusters, synapses are not retinotopically organized, but instead adopt near random distributions. To investigate how this organization strategy impacts DN integration, we developed multicompartment models of DNs fitted to experimental data and using precise EM morphologies and synapse locations. We find that DN dendrite morphologies normalize EPSP amplitudes of individual synaptic inputs and that near random distributions of synapses ensure linear encoding of synapse numbers from individual VPNs. These findings illuminate how synaptic topography influences dendritic integration and suggest that linear encoding of synapse numbers may be a default strategy established through connectivity and passive neuron properties, upon which active properties and plasticity can then tune as needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Moreno-Sanchez
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States
| | - Alexander N. Vasserman
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States
| | - HyoJong Jang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Bryce W. Hina
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Catherine R. von Reyn
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jessica Ausborn
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, United States
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6
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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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7
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Masoli S, Sanchez-Ponce D, Vrieler N, Abu-Haya K, Lerner V, Shahar T, Nedelescu H, Rizza MF, Benavides-Piccione R, DeFelipe J, Yarom Y, Munoz A, D'Angelo E. Human Purkinje cells outperform mouse Purkinje cells in dendritic complexity and computational capacity. Commun Biol 2024; 7:5. [PMID: 38168772 PMCID: PMC10761885 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05689-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: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Purkinje cells in the cerebellum are among the largest neurons in the brain and have been extensively investigated in rodents. However, their morphological and physiological properties remain poorly understood in humans. In this study, we utilized high-resolution morphological reconstructions and unique electrophysiological recordings of human Purkinje cells ex vivo to generate computational models and estimate computational capacity. An inter-species comparison showed that human Purkinje cell had similar fractal structures but were larger than those of mouse Purkinje cells. Consequently, given a similar spine density (2/μm), human Purkinje cell hosted approximately 7.5 times more dendritic spines than those of mice. Moreover, human Purkinje cells had a higher dendritic complexity than mouse Purkinje cells and usually emitted 2-3 main dendritic trunks instead of one. Intrinsic electro-responsiveness was similar between the two species, but model simulations revealed that the dendrites could process ~6.5 times (n = 51 vs. n = 8) more input patterns in human Purkinje cells than in mouse Purkinje cells. Thus, while human Purkinje cells maintained spike discharge properties similar to those of rodents during evolution, they developed more complex dendrites, enhancing computational capacity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Masoli
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Diana Sanchez-Ponce
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Nora Vrieler
- Feinberg school of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
- Department of Neurobiology and ELSC, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Karin Abu-Haya
- Department of Neurobiology and ELSC, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Vitaly Lerner
- Department of Neurobiology and ELSC, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Center of Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Tal Shahar
- Department of Neurosurgery, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel
| | | | | | - Ruth Benavides-Piccione
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier DeFelipe
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto Cajal (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Yosef Yarom
- Department of Neurobiology and ELSC, Edmond J. Safra Campus, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Alberto Munoz
- Centro de Tecnología Biomédica (CTB), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Biología Celular, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Egidio D'Angelo
- Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
- Digital Neuroscience Center, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy.
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8
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Zhao J, Xie Q, Shuang F, Yue S. An Angular Acceleration Based Looming Detector for Moving UAVs. Biomimetics (Basel) 2024; 9:22. [PMID: 38248596 PMCID: PMC11154257 DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics9010022] [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: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/23/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Visual perception equips unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with increasingly comprehensive and instant environmental perception, rendering it a crucial technology in intelligent UAV obstacle avoidance. However, the rapid movements of UAVs cause significant changes in the field of view, affecting the algorithms' ability to extract the visual features of collisions accurately. As a result, algorithms suffer from a high rate of false alarms and a delay in warning time. During the study of visual field angle curves of different orders, it was found that the peak times of the curves of higher-order information on the angular size of looming objects are linearly related to the time to collision (TTC) and occur before collisions. This discovery implies that encoding higher-order information on the angular size could resolve the issue of response lag. Furthermore, the fact that the image of a looming object adjusts to meet several looming visual cues compared to the background interference implies that integrating various field-of-view characteristics will likely enhance the model's resistance to motion interference. Therefore, this paper presents a concise A-LGMD model for detecting looming objects. The model is based on image angular acceleration and addresses problems related to imprecise feature extraction and insufficient time series modeling to enhance the model's ability to rapidly and precisely detect looming objects during the rapid self-motion of UAVs. The model draws inspiration from the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD), which shows high sensitivity to acceleration information. In the proposed model, higher-order information on the angular size is abstracted by the network and fused with multiple visual field angle characteristics to promote the selective response to looming objects. Experiments carried out on synthetic and real-world datasets reveal that the model can efficiently detect the angular acceleration of an image, filter out insignificant background motion, and provide early warnings. These findings indicate that the model could have significant potential in embedded collision detection systems of micro or small UAVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiannan Zhao
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Intelligent Control and Maintenance of Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; (J.Z.); (Q.X.)
| | - Quansheng Xie
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Intelligent Control and Maintenance of Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; (J.Z.); (Q.X.)
| | - Feng Shuang
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Intelligent Control and Maintenance of Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; (J.Z.); (Q.X.)
| | - Shigang Yue
- School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK;
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9
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Liao M, Bird AD, Cuntz H, Howard J. Topology recapitulates morphogenesis of neuronal dendrites. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113268. [PMID: 38007691 PMCID: PMC10756852 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113268] [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: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 11/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Branching allows neurons to make synaptic contacts with large numbers of other neurons, facilitating the high connectivity of nervous systems. Neuronal arbors have geometric properties such as branch lengths and diameters that are optimal in that they maximize signaling speeds while minimizing construction costs. In this work, we asked whether neuronal arbors have topological properties that may also optimize their growth or function. We discovered that for a wide range of invertebrate and vertebrate neurons the distributions of their subtree sizes follow power laws, implying that they are scale invariant. The power-law exponent distinguishes different neuronal cell types. Postsynaptic spines and branchlets perturb scale invariance. Through simulations, we show that the subtree-size distribution depends on the symmetry of the branching rules governing arbor growth and that optimal morphologies are scale invariant. Thus, the subtree-size distribution is a topological property that recapitulates the functional morphology of dendrites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maijia Liao
- Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Alex D Bird
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Faculty of Medicine, Justus Liebig University, 35390 Giessen, Germany
| | - Hermann Cuntz
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Faculty of Medicine, Justus Liebig University, 35390 Giessen, Germany
| | - Jonathon Howard
- Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
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10
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Desai-Chowdhry P, Brummer AB, Mallavarapu S, Savage VM. Neuronal branching is increasingly asymmetric near synapses, potentially enabling plasticity while minimizing energy dissipation and conduction time. J R Soc Interface 2023; 20:20230265. [PMID: 37669695 PMCID: PMC10480011 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2023.0265] [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: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurons' primary function is to encode and transmit information in the brain and body. The branching architecture of axons and dendrites must compute, respond and make decisions while obeying the rules of the substrate in which they are enmeshed. Thus, it is important to delineate and understand the principles that govern these branching patterns. Here, we present evidence that asymmetric branching is a key factor in understanding the functional properties of neurons. First, we derive novel predictions for asymmetric scaling exponents that encapsulate branching architecture associated with crucial principles such as conduction time, power minimization and material costs. We compare our predictions with extensive data extracted from images to associate specific principles with specific biophysical functions and cell types. Notably, we find that asymmetric branching models lead to predictions and empirical findings that correspond to different weightings of the importance of maximum, minimum or total path lengths from the soma to the synapses. These different path lengths quantitatively and qualitatively affect energy, time and materials. Moreover, we generally observe that higher degrees of asymmetric branching-potentially arising from extrinsic environmental cues and synaptic plasticity in response to activity-occur closer to the tips than the soma (cell body).
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Affiliation(s)
- Paheli Desai-Chowdhry
- Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | | | - Samhita Mallavarapu
- Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Van M. Savage
- Department of Computational Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
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11
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Whiddon ZD, Marshall JB, Alston DC, McGee AW, Krimm RF. Rapid structural remodeling of peripheral taste neurons is independent of taste cell turnover. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002271. [PMID: 37651406 PMCID: PMC10499261 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002271] [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: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Taste bud cells are constantly replaced in taste buds as old cells die and new cells migrate into the bud. The perception of taste relies on new taste bud cells integrating with existing neural circuitry, yet how these new cells connect with a taste ganglion neuron is unknown. Do taste ganglion neurons remodel to accommodate taste bud cell renewal? If so, how much of the structure of taste axons is fixed and how much remodels? Here, we measured the motility and branching of individual taste arbors (the portion of the axon innervating taste buds) in mice over time with two-photon in vivo microscopy. Terminal branches of taste arbors continuously and rapidly remodel within the taste bud. This remodeling is faster than predicted by taste bud cell renewal, with terminal branches added and lost concurrently. Surprisingly, blocking entry of new taste bud cells with chemotherapeutic agents revealed that remodeling of the terminal branches on taste arbors does not rely on the renewal of taste bud cells. Although terminal branch remodeling was fast and intrinsically controlled, no new arbors were added to taste buds, and few were lost over 100 days. Taste ganglion neurons maintain a stable number of arbors that are each capable of high-speed remodeling. We propose that terminal branch plasticity permits arbors to locate new taste bud cells, while stability of arbor number supports constancy in the degree of connectivity and function for each neuron over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary D. Whiddon
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
| | - Jaleia B. Marshall
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
| | - David C. Alston
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
| | - Aaron W. McGee
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
| | - Robin F. Krimm
- Department of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America
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12
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De Schutter E. Efficient simulation of neural development using shared memory parallelization. Front Neuroinform 2023; 17:1212384. [PMID: 37547492 PMCID: PMC10400717 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2023.1212384] [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: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The Neural Development Simulator, NeuroDevSim, is a Python module that simulates the most important aspects of brain development: morphological growth, migration, and pruning. It uses an agent-based modeling approach inherited from the NeuroMaC software. Each cycle has agents called fronts execute model-specific code. In the case of a growing dendritic or axonal front, this will be a choice between extension, branching, or growth termination. Somatic fronts can migrate to new positions and any front can be retracted to prune parts of neurons. Collision detection prevents new or migrating fronts from overlapping with existing ones. NeuroDevSim is a multi-core program that uses an innovative shared memory approach to achieve parallel processing without messaging. We demonstrate linear strong parallel scaling up to 96 cores for large models and have run these successfully on 128 cores. Most of the shared memory parallelism is achieved without memory locking. Instead, cores have only write privileges to private sections of arrays, while being able to read the entire shared array. Memory conflicts are avoided by a coding rule that allows only active fronts to use methods that need writing access. The exception is collision detection, which is needed to avoid the growth of physically overlapping structures. For collision detection, a memory-locking mechanism was necessary to control access to grid points that register the location of nearby fronts. A custom approach using a serialized lock broker was able to manage both read and write locking. NeuroDevSim allows easy modeling of most aspects of neural development for models simulating a few complex or thousands of simple neurons or a mixture of both. Code available at https://github.com/CNS-OIST/NeuroDevSim.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik De Schutter
- Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
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13
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Puhl CJ, Wefelmeyer W, Burrone J. Cholinergic Stimulation Modulates the Functional Composition of CA3 Cell Types in the Hippocampus. J Neurosci 2023; 43:4972-4983. [PMID: 37277177 PMCID: PMC10324996 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0966-22.2023] [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: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The functional heterogeneity of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons has emerged as a key aspect of circuit function. Here, we explored the effects of long-term cholinergic activity on the functional heterogeneity of CA3 pyramidal neurons in organotypic slices obtained from male rat brains. Application of agonists to either AChRs generally, or mAChRs specifically, induced robust increases in network activity in the low-gamma range. Prolonged AChR stimulation for 48 h uncovered a population of hyperadapting CA3 pyramidal neurons that typically fired a single, early action potential in response to current injection. Although these neurons were present in control networks, their proportions were dramatically increased following long-term cholinergic activity. Characterized by the presence of a strong M-current, the hyperadaptation phenotype was abolished by acute application of either M-channel antagonists or the reapplication of AChR agonists. We conclude that long-term mAChR activation modulates the intrinsic excitability of a subset of CA3 pyramidal cells, uncovering a highly plastic cohort of neurons that are sensitive to chronic ACh modulation. Our findings provide evidence for the activity-dependent plasticity of functional heterogeneity in the hippocampus.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The large heterogeneity of neuron types in the brain, each with its own specific functional properties, provides the rich cellular tapestry needed to account for the vast diversity of behaviors. By studying the functional properties of neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory, we find that exposure to the neuromodulator acetylcholine can alter the relative number of functionally defined neuron types. Our findings suggest that the heterogeneity of neurons in the brain is not a static feature but can be modified by the ongoing activity of the circuits to which they belong.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Jon Puhl
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | - Winnie Wefelmeyer
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
| | - Juan Burrone
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, United Kingdom
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14
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Schneider M, Bird AD, Gidon A, Triesch J, Jedlicka P, Cuntz H. Biological complexity facilitates tuning of the neuronal parameter space. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011212. [PMID: 37399220 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The electrical and computational properties of neurons in our brains are determined by a rich repertoire of membrane-spanning ion channels and elaborate dendritic trees. However, the precise reason for this inherent complexity remains unknown, given that simpler models with fewer ion channels are also able to functionally reproduce the behaviour of some neurons. Here, we stochastically varied the ion channel densities of a biophysically detailed dentate gyrus granule cell model to produce a large population of putative granule cells, comparing those with all 15 original ion channels to their reduced but functional counterparts containing only 5 ion channels. Strikingly, valid parameter combinations in the full models were dramatically more frequent at -6% vs. -1% in the simpler model. The full models were also more stable in the face of perturbations to channel expression levels. Scaling up the numbers of ion channels artificially in the reduced models recovered these advantages confirming the key contribution of the actual number of ion channel types. We conclude that the diversity of ion channels gives a neuron greater flexibility and robustness to achieve a target excitability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marius Schneider
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Faculty of Physics, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alexander D Bird
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Albert Gidon
- Institute for Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jochen Triesch
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Faculty of Physics, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Peter Jedlicka
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
- Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Hermann Cuntz
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in cooperation with the Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- ICAR3R-Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
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15
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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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16
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Kato M, De Schutter E. Models of Purkinje cell dendritic tree selection during early cerebellar development. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011320. [PMID: 37486917 PMCID: PMC10399850 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011320] [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: 10/19/2022] [Revised: 08/03/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigate the relationship between primary dendrite selection of Purkinje cells and migration of their presynaptic partner granule cells during early cerebellar development. During postnatal development, each Purkinje cell grows more than three dendritic trees, from which a primary tree is selected for development, whereas the others completely retract. Experimental studies suggest that this selection process is coordinated by physical and synaptic interactions with granule cells, which undergo a massive migration at the same time. However, technical limitations hinder continuous experimental observation of multiple cell populations. To explore possible mechanisms underlying this selection process, we constructed a computational model using a new computational framework, NeuroDevSim. The study presents the first computational model that simultaneously simulates Purkinje cell growth and the dynamics of granule cell migrations during the first two postnatal weeks, allowing exploration of the role of physical and synaptic interactions upon dendritic selection. The model suggests that interaction with parallel fibers is important to establish the distinct planar morphology of Purkinje cell dendrites. Specific rules to select which dendritic trees to keep or retract result in larger winner trees with more synaptic contacts than using random selection. A rule based on afferent synaptic activity was less effective than rules based on dendritic size or numbers of synapses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mizuki Kato
- Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan
- Department and Graduate Institute of Pharmacology, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Erik De Schutter
- Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Tancha, Okinawa, Japan
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17
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Ding L, Zhao X, Guo S, Liu Y, Liu L, Wang Y, Peng H. SNAP: a structure-based neuron morphology reconstruction automatic pruning pipeline. Front Neuroinform 2023; 17:1174049. [PMID: 37388757 PMCID: PMC10303825 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2023.1174049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Neuron morphology analysis is an essential component of neuron cell-type definition. Morphology reconstruction represents a bottleneck in high-throughput morphology analysis workflow, and erroneous extra reconstruction owing to noise and entanglements in dense neuron regions restricts the usability of automated reconstruction results. We propose SNAP, a structure-based neuron morphology reconstruction pruning pipeline, to improve the usability of results by reducing erroneous extra reconstruction and splitting entangled neurons. Methods For the four different types of erroneous extra segments in reconstruction (caused by noise in the background, entanglement with dendrites of close-by neurons, entanglement with axons of other neurons, and entanglement within the same neuron), SNAP incorporates specific statistical structure information into rules for erroneous extra segment detection and achieves pruning and multiple dendrite splitting. Results Experimental results show that this pipeline accomplishes pruning with satisfactory precision and recall. It also demonstrates good multiple neuron-splitting performance. As an effective tool for post-processing reconstruction, SNAP can facilitate neuron morphology analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liya Ding
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xuan Zhao
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Shuxia Guo
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yufeng Liu
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Lijuan Liu
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yimin Wang
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- Guangdong Institute of Intelligence Science and Technology, Zhuhai, China
| | - Hanchuan Peng
- Institute for Brain and Intelligence, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
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18
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Rigby M, Grillo FW, Compans B, Neves G, Gallinaro J, Nashashibi S, Horton S, Pereira Machado PM, Carbajal MA, Vizcay-Barrena G, Levet F, Sibarita JB, Kirkland A, Fleck RA, Clopath C, Burrone J. Multi-synaptic boutons are a feature of CA1 hippocampal connections in the stratum oriens. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112397. [PMID: 37074915 PMCID: PMC10695768 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112397] [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: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 01/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Excitatory synapses are typically described as single synaptic boutons (SSBs), where one presynaptic bouton contacts a single postsynaptic spine. Using serial section block-face scanning electron microscopy, we found that this textbook definition of the synapse does not fully apply to the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Roughly half of all excitatory synapses in the stratum oriens involved multi-synaptic boutons (MSBs), where a single presynaptic bouton containing multiple active zones contacted many postsynaptic spines (from 2 to 7) on the basal dendrites of different cells. The fraction of MSBs increased during development (from postnatal day 22 [P22] to P100) and decreased with distance from the soma. Curiously, synaptic properties such as active zone (AZ) or postsynaptic density (PSD) size exhibited less within-MSB variation when compared with neighboring SSBs, features that were confirmed by super-resolution light microscopy. Computer simulations suggest that these properties favor synchronous activity in CA1 networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Rigby
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Federico W Grillo
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Benjamin Compans
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Guilherme Neves
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; The Rosalind Franklin Institute, Harwell Campus, Didcot OX11 0FA, UK
| | - Julia Gallinaro
- Bioengineering Department, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Sophie Nashashibi
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Sally Horton
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Pedro M Pereira Machado
- Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging (CUI), Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Maria Alejandra Carbajal
- Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging (CUI), Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Gema Vizcay-Barrena
- Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging (CUI), Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Florian Levet
- University Bordeaux, CNRS, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, IINS, UMR 5297, 33000 Bordeaux, France; University Bordeaux, CNRS, INSERM, Bordeaux Imaging Center, BIC, UAR3420, US 4, 33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Jean-Baptiste Sibarita
- University Bordeaux, CNRS, Interdisciplinary Institute for Neuroscience, IINS, UMR 5297, 33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Angus Kirkland
- The Rosalind Franklin Institute, Harwell Campus, Didcot OX11 0FA, UK
| | - Roland A Fleck
- Centre for Ultrastructural Imaging (CUI), Kings College London, New Hunts House, Guys Hospital Campus, London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Claudia Clopath
- Bioengineering Department, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Juan Burrone
- MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK; Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE1 1UL, UK.
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19
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Desai-Chowdhry P, Brummer AB, Mallavarapu S, Savage VM. Neuronal Branching is Increasingly Asymmetric Near Synapses, Potentially Enabling Plasticity While Minimizing Energy Dissipation and Conduction Time. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.05.20.541591. [PMID: 37292687 PMCID: PMC10245708 DOI: 10.1101/2023.05.20.541591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Neurons' primary function is to encode and transmit information in the brain and body. The branching architecture of axons and dendrites must compute, respond, and make decisions while obeying the rules of the substrate in which they are enmeshed. Thus, it is important to delineate and understand the principles that govern these branching patterns. Here, we present evidence that asymmetric branching is a key factor in understanding the functional properties of neurons. First, we derive novel predictions for asymmetric scaling exponents that encapsulate branching architecture associated with crucial principles such as conduction time, power minimization, and material costs. We compare our predictions with extensive data extracted from images to associate specific principles with specific biophysical functions and cell types. Notably, we find that asymmetric branching models lead to predictions and empirical findings that correspond to different weightings of the importance of maximum, minimum, or total path lengths from the soma to the synapses. These different path lengths quantitatively and qualitatively affect energy, time, and materials. Moreover, we generally observe that higher degrees of asymmetric branching- potentially arising from extrinsic environmental cues and synaptic plasticity in response to activity- occur closer to the tips than the soma (cell body).
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20
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Zhao J, Wang H, Bellotto N, Hu C, Peng J, Yue S. Enhancing LGMD's Looming Selectivity for UAV With Spatial-Temporal Distributed Presynaptic Connections. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS AND LEARNING SYSTEMS 2023; 34:2539-2553. [PMID: 34495845 DOI: 10.1109/tnnls.2021.3106946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Collision detection is one of the most challenging tasks for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This is especially true for small or micro-UAVs due to their limited computational power. In nature, flying insects with compact and simple visual systems demonstrate their remarkable ability to navigate and avoid collision in complex environments. A good example of this is provided by locusts. They can avoid collisions in a dense swarm through the activity of a motion-based visual neuron called the Lobula giant movement detector (LGMD). The defining feature of the LGMD neuron is its preference for looming. As a flying insect's visual neuron, LGMD is considered to be an ideal basis for building UAV's collision detecting system. However, existing LGMD models cannot distinguish looming clearly from other visual cues, such as complex background movements caused by UAV agile flights. To address this issue, we proposed a new model implementing distributed spatial-temporal synaptic interactions, which is inspired by recent findings in locusts' synaptic morphology. We first introduced the locally distributed excitation to enhance the excitation caused by visual motion with preferred velocities. Then, radially extending temporal latency for inhibition is incorporated to compete with the distributed excitation and selectively suppress the nonpreferred visual motions. This spatial-temporal competition between excitation and inhibition in our model is, therefore, tuned to preferred image angular velocity representing looming rather than background movements with these distributed synaptic interactions. Systematic experiments have been conducted to verify the performance of the proposed model for UAV agile flights. The results have demonstrated that this new model enhances the looming selectivity in complex flying scenes considerably and has the potential to be implemented on embedded collision detection systems for small or micro-UAVs.
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21
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Miranda M, Frasca M, Estrada E. Topologically induced suppression of explosive synchronization. CHAOS (WOODBURY, N.Y.) 2023; 33:2887742. [PMID: 37125934 DOI: 10.1063/5.0142418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Nowadays, explosive synchronization is a well-documented phenomenon consisting in a first-order transition that may coexist with classical synchronization. Typically, explosive synchronization occurs when the network structure is represented by the classical graph Laplacian, and the node frequency and its degree are correlated. Here, we answer the question on whether this phenomenon can be observed in networks when the oscillators are coupled via degree-biased Laplacian operators. We not only observe that this is the case but also that this new representation naturally controls the transition from explosive to standard synchronization in a network. We prove analytically that explosive synchronization emerges when using this theoretical setting in star-like networks. As soon as this star-like network is topologically converted into a network containing cycles, the explosive synchronization gives rise to classical synchronization. Finally, we hypothesize that this mechanism may play a role in switching from normal to explosive states in the brain, where explosive synchronization has been proposed to be related to some pathologies like epilepsy and fibromyalgia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Miranda
- Institute of Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems, IFISC (UIB-CSIC), 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
| | - Mattia Frasca
- Department of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science Engineering, University of Catania, I-95125 Catania, Italy
- Istituto di Analisi dei Sistemi ed Informatica "A. Ruberti", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (IASI-CNR), 00185 Roma, Italy
| | - Ernesto Estrada
- Institute of Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems, IFISC (UIB-CSIC), 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
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22
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Nanda S, Bhattacharjee S, Cox DN, Ascoli GA. Local Microtubule and F-Actin Distributions Fully Constrain the Spatial Geometry of Drosophila Sensory Dendritic Arbors. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:6741. [PMID: 37047715 PMCID: PMC10095360 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076741] [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: 02/26/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/01/2023] [Indexed: 04/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Dendritic morphology underlies the source and processing of neuronal signal inputs. Morphology can be broadly described by two types of geometric characteristics. The first is dendrogram topology, defined by the length and frequency of the arbor branches; the second is spatial embedding, mainly determined by branch angles and straightness. We have previously demonstrated that microtubules and actin filaments are associated with arbor elongation and branching, fully constraining dendrogram topology. Here, we relate the local distribution of these two primary cytoskeletal components with dendritic spatial embedding. We first reconstruct and analyze 167 sensory neurons from the Drosophila larva encompassing multiple cell classes and genotypes. We observe that branches with a higher microtubule concentration tend to deviate less from the direction of their parent branch across all neuron types. Higher microtubule branches are also overall straighter. F-actin displays a similar effect on angular deviation and branch straightness, but not as consistently across all neuron types as microtubule. These observations raise the question as to whether the associations between cytoskeletal distributions and arbor geometry are sufficient constraints to reproduce type-specific dendritic architecture. Therefore, we create a computational model of dendritic morphology purely constrained by the cytoskeletal composition measured from real neurons. The model quantitatively captures both spatial embedding and dendrogram topology across all tested neuron groups. These results suggest a common developmental mechanism regulating diverse morphologies, where the local cytoskeletal distribution can fully specify the overall emergent geometry of dendritic arbors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sumit Nanda
- Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, and Plasticity and Neuroscience Program, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA;
| | - Shatabdi Bhattacharjee
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA; (S.B.); (D.N.C.)
| | - Daniel N. Cox
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA; (S.B.); (D.N.C.)
| | - Giorgio A. Ascoli
- Center for Neural Informatics, Structures, and Plasticity and Neuroscience Program, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA;
- Bioengineering Department, College of Engineering and Computing, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22032, USA
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23
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Nanda S, Bhattacharjee S, Cox DN, Ascoli GA. Local microtubule and F-actin distributions fully determine the spatial geometry of Drosophila sensory dendritic arbors. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.24.529978. [PMID: 36909461 PMCID: PMC10002631 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.24.529978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
Dendritic morphology underlies the source and processing of neuronal signal inputs. Morphology can be broadly described by two types of geometric characteristics. The first is dendrogram topology, defined by the length and frequency of the arbor branches; the second is spatial embedding, mainly determined by branch angles and tortuosity. We have previously demonstrated that microtubules and actin filaments are associated with arbor elongation and branching, fully constraining dendrogram topology. Here we relate the local distribution of these two primary cytoskeletal components with dendritic spatial embedding. We first reconstruct and analyze 167 sensory neurons from the Drosophila larva encompassing multiple cell classes and genotypes. We observe that branches with higher microtubule concentration are overall straighter and tend to deviate less from the direction of their parent branch. F-actin displays a similar effect on the angular deviation from the parent branch direction, but its influence on branch tortuosity varies by class and genotype. We then create a computational model of dendritic morphology purely constrained by the cytoskeletal composition imaged from real neurons. The model quantitatively captures both spatial embedding and dendrogram topology across all tested neuron groups. These results suggest a common developmental mechanism regulating diverse morphologies, where the local cytoskeletal distribution can fully specify the overall emergent geometry of dendritic arbors.
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24
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Clark KB. Neural Field Continuum Limits and the Structure–Function Partitioning of Cognitive–Emotional Brain Networks. BIOLOGY 2023; 12:biology12030352. [PMID: 36979044 PMCID: PMC10045557 DOI: 10.3390/biology12030352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 01/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
In The cognitive-emotional brain, Pessoa overlooks continuum effects on nonlinear brain network connectivity by eschewing neural field theories and physiologically derived constructs representative of neuronal plasticity. The absence of this content, which is so very important for understanding the dynamic structure-function embedding and partitioning of brains, diminishes the rich competitive and cooperative nature of neural networks and trivializes Pessoa’s arguments, and similar arguments by other authors, on the phylogenetic and operational significance of an optimally integrated brain filled with variable-strength neural connections. Riemannian neuromanifolds, containing limit-imposing metaplastic Hebbian- and antiHebbian-type control variables, simulate scalable network behavior that is difficult to capture from the simpler graph-theoretic analysis preferred by Pessoa and other neuroscientists. Field theories suggest the partitioning and performance benefits of embedded cognitive-emotional networks that optimally evolve between exotic classical and quantum computational phases, where matrix singularities and condensations produce degenerate structure-function homogeneities unrealistic of healthy brains. Some network partitioning, as opposed to unconstrained embeddedness, is thus required for effective execution of cognitive-emotional network functions and, in our new era of neuroscience, should be considered a critical aspect of proper brain organization and operation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin B. Clark
- Cures Within Reach, Chicago, IL 60602, USA;
- Felidae Conservation Fund, Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA
- Campus and Domain Champions Program, Multi-Tier Assistance, Training, and Computational Help (MATCH) Track, National Science Foundation’s Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services and Support (ACCESS), https://access-ci.org/
- Expert Network, Penn Center for Innovation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Network for Life Detection (NfoLD), NASA Astrobiology Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
- Multi-Omics and Systems Biology & Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Analysis Working Groups, NASA GeneLab, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA
- Frontier Development Lab, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA 94035, USA & SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
- Peace Innovation Institute, The Hague 2511, Netherlands & Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 94305, USA
- Shared Interest Group for Natural and Artificial Intelligence (sigNAI), Max Planck Alumni Association, 14057 Berlin, Germany
- Biometrics and Nanotechnology Councils, Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), New York, NY 10016, USA
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Stark RA, Brinkman B, Gibb RL, Iwaniuk AN, Pellis SM. Atypical play experiences in the juvenile period has an impact on the development of the medial prefrontal cortex in both male and female rats. Behav Brain Res 2023; 439:114222. [PMID: 36427590 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.114222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2022] [Revised: 11/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
In rats reared without play, or with limited access to play during the juvenile period, the dendrites of pyramidal neurons of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) exhibit more branching than rats reared with more typical levels of play. This suggests that play is critical for pruning the dendritic arbor of these neurons. However, the rearing paradigms typically used to limit play involve physical separation from a peer or sharing a cage with an adult, causing stress that may disrupt pruning. To limit this potentially confounding source of stress, we used an alternative approach in this study: pairing playful Long Evans rats (LE) with low playing Fischer 344 (F344) rats throughout the juvenile period. We then examined the morphology of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons, predicting that pruning should be reduced. LE rats reared with another LE rat had significantly greater pruning of mPFC pyramidal neurons compared to LE rats reared with a F344 partner. Furthermore, in previous studies, only one sex or the other was used, whereas in the present rearing paradigm, both sexes were tested, showing that play influences neuronal pruning in both. The neurons of the play deficient LE rats not only occupied more space, as determined by convex hull analyses, but the dendrites were also longer than in rats with more typical play experiences. Unlike studies using more stressful rearing paradigms, the present effects were limited to the apical dendritic projections, suggesting that the previously reported effects on the basilar dendrites may have resulted from developmental disruptions caused by stress. If correct, the present findings indicate that play experienced over the juvenile period affects how mPFC neurons develop and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- R A Stark
- University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
| | - B Brinkman
- University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
| | - R L Gibb
- University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
| | | | - S M Pellis
- University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
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26
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Jungenitz T, Bird A, Engelhardt M, Jedlicka P, Schwarzacher SW, Deller T. Structural plasticity of the axon initial segment in rat hippocampal granule cells following high frequency stimulation and LTP induction. Front Neuroanat 2023; 17:1125623. [PMID: 37090138 PMCID: PMC10113456 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2023.1125623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The axon initial segment (AIS) is the site of action potential initiation and important for the integration of synaptic input. Length and localization of the AIS are dynamic, modulated by afferent activity and contribute to the homeostatic control of neuronal excitability. Synaptopodin is a plasticity-related protein expressed by the majority of telencephalic neurons. It is required for the formation of cisternal organelles within the AIS and an excellent marker to identify these enigmatic organelles at the light microscopic level. Here we applied 2 h of high frequency stimulation of the medial perforant path in rats in vivo to induce a strong long-term potentiation of dentate gyrus granule cells. Immunolabeling for βIV-spectrin and synaptopodin were performed to study structural changes of the AIS and its cisternal organelles. Three-dimensional analysis of the AIS revealed a shortening of the AIS and a corresponding reduction of the number of synaptopodin clusters. These data demonstrate a rapid structural plasticity of the AIS and its cisternal organelles to strong stimulation, indicating a homeostatic response of the entire AIS compartment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tassilo Jungenitz
- Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- *Correspondence: Tassilo Jungenitz,
| | - Alexander Bird
- Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | - Maren Engelhardt
- Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Linz, Austria
| | - Peter Jedlicka
- Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany
| | | | - Thomas Deller
- Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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27
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How axon and dendrite branching are guided by time, energy, and spatial constraints. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20810. [PMID: 36460669 PMCID: PMC9718790 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24813-2] [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: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons are connected by complex branching processes-axons and dendrites-that process information for organisms to respond to their environment. Classifying neurons according to differences in structure or function is a fundamental part of neuroscience. Here, by constructing biophysical theory and testing against empirical measures of branching structure, we develop a general model that establishes a correspondence between neuron structure and function as mediated by principles such as time or power minimization for information processing as well as spatial constraints for forming connections. We test our predictions for radius scale factors against those extracted from neuronal images, measured for species that range from insects to whales, including data from light and electron microscopy studies. Notably, our findings reveal that the branching of axons and peripheral nervous system neurons is mainly determined by time minimization, while dendritic branching is determined by power minimization. Our model also predicts a quarter-power scaling relationship between conduction time delay and body size.
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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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29
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Yayon N, Amsalem O, Zorbaz T, Yakov O, Dubnov S, Winek K, Dudai A, Adam G, Schmidtner AK, Tessier‐Lavigne M, Renier N, Habib N, Segev I, London M, Soreq H. High-throughput morphometric and transcriptomic profiling uncovers composition of naïve and sensory-deprived cortical cholinergic VIP/CHAT neurons. EMBO J 2022; 42:e110565. [PMID: 36377476 PMCID: PMC9811618 DOI: 10.15252/embj.2021110565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2021] [Revised: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Cortical neuronal networks control cognitive output, but their composition and modulation remain elusive. Here, we studied the morphological and transcriptional diversity of cortical cholinergic VIP/ChAT interneurons (VChIs), a sparse population with a largely unknown function. We focused on VChIs from the whole barrel cortex and developed a high-throughput automated reconstruction framework, termed PopRec, to characterize hundreds of VChIs from each mouse in an unbiased manner, while preserving 3D cortical coordinates in multiple cleared mouse brains, accumulating thousands of cells. We identified two fundamentally distinct morphological types of VChIs, bipolar and multipolar that differ in their cortical distribution and general morphological features. Following mild unilateral whisker deprivation on postnatal day seven, we found after three weeks both ipsi- and contralateral dendritic arborization differences and modified cortical depth and distribution patterns in the barrel fields alone. To seek the transcriptomic drivers, we developed NuNeX, a method for isolating nuclei from fixed tissues, to explore sorted VChIs. This highlighted differentially expressed neuronal structural transcripts, altered exitatory innervation pathways and established Elmo1 as a key regulator of morphology following deprivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nadav Yayon
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Oren Amsalem
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Neurobiology, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Tamara Zorbaz
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,Biochemistry and Organic Analytical Chemistry UnitThe Institute of Medical Research and Occupational HealthZagrebCroatia
| | - Or Yakov
- The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Serafima Dubnov
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Katarzyna Winek
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Amir Dudai
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Neurobiology, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Gil Adam
- The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Anna K Schmidtner
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | | | - Nicolas Renier
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute ‐ ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP‐HP, Hôpital de la Pitié SalpêtrièreParisFrance
| | - Naomi Habib
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Neurobiology, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Idan Segev
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Neurobiology, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Michael London
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Neurobiology, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
| | - Hermona Soreq
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences (ELSC), The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael,The Department of Biological Chemistry, The Life Sciences InstituteThe Hebrew University of JerusalemJerusalemIsrael
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30
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Räsänen N, Harju V, Joki T, Narkilahti S. Practical guide for preparation, computational reconstruction and analysis of 3D human neuronal networks in control and ischaemic conditions. Development 2022; 149:276215. [PMID: 35929583 PMCID: PMC9440753 DOI: 10.1242/dev.200012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
To obtain commensurate numerical data of neuronal network morphology in vitro, network analysis needs to follow consistent guidelines. Important factors in successful analysis are sample uniformity, suitability of the analysis method for extracting relevant data and the use of established metrics. However, for the analysis of 3D neuronal cultures, there is little coherence in the analysis methods and metrics used in different studies. Here, we present a framework for the analysis of neuronal networks in 3D. First, we selected a hydrogel that supported the growth of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neurons. Second, we tested and compared two software programs for tracing multi-neuron images in three dimensions and optimized a workflow for neuronal analysis using software that was considered highly suitable for this purpose. Third, as a proof of concept, we exposed 3D neuronal networks to oxygen-glucose deprivation- and ionomycin-induced damage and showed morphological differences between the damaged networks and control samples utilizing the proposed analysis workflow. With the optimized workflow, we present a protocol for preparing, challenging, imaging and analysing 3D human neuronal cultures. Summary: An optimized protocol is presented that allows morphological, quantifiable differences between the damaged and control human neuronal networks to be detected in three-dimensional cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noora Räsänen
- Tampere University, 33100, Tampere Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology , , Finland
| | - Venla Harju
- Tampere University, 33100, Tampere Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology , , Finland
| | - Tiina Joki
- Tampere University, 33100, Tampere Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology , , Finland
| | - Susanna Narkilahti
- Tampere University, 33100, Tampere Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology , , Finland
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31
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Zhou H, Cao T, Liu T, Liu S, Chen L, Chen Y, Huang Q, Ye W, Zeng S, Quan T. Super-resolution Segmentation Network for Reconstruction of Packed Neurites. Neuroinformatics 2022; 20:1155-1167. [PMID: 35851944 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-022-09594-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Neuron reconstruction can provide the quantitative data required for measuring the neuronal morphology and is crucial in brain research. However, the difficulty in reconstructing dense neurites, wherein massive labor is required for accurate reconstruction in most cases, has not been well resolved. In this work, we provide a new pathway for solving this challenge by proposing the super-resolution segmentation network (SRSNet), which builds the mapping of the neurites in the original neuronal images and their segmentation in a higher-resolution (HR) space. During the segmentation process, the distances between the boundaries of the packed neurites are enlarged, and only the central parts of the neurites are segmented. Owing to this strategy, the super-resolution segmented images are produced for subsequent reconstruction. We carried out experiments on neuronal images with a voxel size of 0.2 μm × 0.2 μm × 1 μm produced by fMOST. SRSNet achieves an average F1 score of 0.88 for automatic packed neurites reconstruction, which takes both the precision and recall values into account, while the average F1 scores of other state-of-the-art automatic tracing methods are less than 0.70.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Zhou
- School of Computer Science, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
| | - Tingting Cao
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Tian Liu
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Shijie Liu
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Lu Chen
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Yijun Chen
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Qing Huang
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Wei Ye
- School of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Shaoqun Zeng
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China
| | - Tingwei Quan
- Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China. .,MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.
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32
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Kumar BS, Menon SC, Gayathri SR, Chakravarthy VS. The Influence of Neural Activity and Neural Cytoarchitecture on Cerebrovascular Arborization: A Computational Model. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:917196. [PMID: 35860300 PMCID: PMC9290769 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.917196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Normal functioning of the brain relies on a continual and efficient delivery of energy by a vast network of cerebral blood vessels. The bidirectional coupling between neurons and blood vessels consists of vasodilatory energy demand signals from neurons to blood vessels, and the retrograde flow of energy substrates from the vessels to neurons, which fuel neural firing, growth and other housekeeping activities in the neurons. Recent works indicate that, in addition to the functional coupling observed in the adult brain, the interdependence between the neural and vascular networks begins at the embryonic stage, and continues into subsequent developmental stages. The proposed Vascular Arborization Model (VAM) captures the effect of neural cytoarchitecture and neural activity on vascular arborization. The VAM describes three important stages of vascular tree growth: (i) The prenatal growth phase, where the vascular arborization depends on the cytoarchitecture of neurons and non-neural cells, (ii) the post-natal growth phase during which the further arborization of the vasculature depends on neural activity in addition to neural cytoarchitecture, and (iii) the settling phase, where the fully grown vascular tree repositions its vascular branch points or nodes to ensure minimum path length and wire length. The vasculature growth depicted by VAM captures structural characteristics like vascular volume density, radii, mean distance to proximal neurons in the cortex. VAM-grown vasculature agrees with the experimental observation that the neural densities do not covary with the vascular density along the depth of the cortex but predicts a high correlation between neural areal density and microvascular density when compared over a global scale (across animals and regions). To explore the influence of neural activity on vascular arborization, the VAM was used to grow the vasculature in neonatal rat whisker barrel cortex under two conditions: (i) Control, where the whiskers were intact and (ii) Lesioned, where one row of whiskers was cauterized. The model captures a significant reduction in vascular branch density in lesioned animals compared to control animals, concurring with experimental observation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bhadra S. Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
| | - Sarath C. Menon
- Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy
- Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
- Center for Complex Systems and Dynamics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
- *Correspondence: V. Srinivasa Chakravarthy,
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33
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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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34
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Shree S, Sutradhar S, Trottier O, Tu Y, Liang X, Howard J. Dynamic instability of dendrite tips generates the highly branched morphologies of sensory neurons. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabn0080. [PMID: 35767611 PMCID: PMC9242452 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn0080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The highly ramified arbors of neuronal dendrites provide the substrate for the high connectivity and computational power of the brain. Altered dendritic morphology is associated with neuronal diseases. Many molecules have been shown to play crucial roles in shaping and maintaining dendrite morphology. However, the underlying principles by which molecular interactions generate branched morphologies are not understood. To elucidate these principles, we visualized the growth of dendrites throughout larval development of Drosophila sensory neurons and found that the tips of dendrites undergo dynamic instability, transitioning rapidly and stochastically between growing, shrinking, and paused states. By incorporating these measured dynamics into an agent-based computational model, we showed that the complex and highly variable dendritic morphologies of these cells are a consequence of the stochastic dynamics of their dendrite tips. These principles may generalize to branching of other neuronal cell types, as well as to branching at the subcellular and tissue levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sonal Shree
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Sabyasachi Sutradhar
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Olivier Trottier
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Yuhai Tu
- IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
| | - Xin Liang
- Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center for Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China
| | - Jonathon Howard
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Quantitative Biology Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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35
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Phan MS, Matho K, Beaurepaire E, Livet J, Chessel A. nAdder: A scale-space approach for the 3D analysis of neuronal traces. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010211. [PMID: 35789212 PMCID: PMC9286273 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2022] [Revised: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Tridimensional microscopy and algorithms for automated segmentation and tracing are revolutionizing neuroscience through the generation of growing libraries of neuron reconstructions. Innovative computational methods are needed to analyze these neuronal traces. In particular, means to characterize the geometric properties of traced neurites along their trajectory have been lacking. Here, we propose a local tridimensional (3D) scale metric derived from differential geometry, measuring for each point of a curve the characteristic length where it is fully 3D as opposed to being embedded in a 2D plane or 1D line. The larger this metric is and the more complex the local 3D loops and turns of the curve are. Available through the GeNePy3D open-source Python quantitative geometry library (https://genepy3d.gitlab.io), this approach termed nAdder offers new means of describing and comparing axonal and dendritic arbors. We validate this metric on simulated and real traces. By reanalysing a published zebrafish larva whole brain dataset, we show its ability to characterize different population of commissural axons, distinguish afferent connections to a target region and differentiate portions of axons and dendrites according to their behavior, shedding new light on the stereotypical nature of neurites' local geometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh Son Phan
- Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, CNRS, INSERM, Ecole Polytechnique, IP Paris, Palaiseau, France
- Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris Cité, Image Analysis Hub,Paris, France
| | - Katherine Matho
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States of America
| | - Emmanuel Beaurepaire
- Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, CNRS, INSERM, Ecole Polytechnique, IP Paris, Palaiseau, France
| | - Jean Livet
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
| | - Anatole Chessel
- Laboratory for Optics and Biosciences, CNRS, INSERM, Ecole Polytechnique, IP Paris, Palaiseau, France
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36
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Jedlicka P, Bird AD, Cuntz H. Pareto optimality, economy-effectiveness trade-offs and ion channel degeneracy: improving population modelling for single neurons. Open Biol 2022; 12:220073. [PMID: 35857898 PMCID: PMC9277232 DOI: 10.1098/rsob.220073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons encounter unavoidable evolutionary trade-offs between multiple tasks. They must consume as little energy as possible while effectively fulfilling their functions. Cells displaying the best performance for such multi-task trade-offs are said to be Pareto optimal, with their ion channel configurations underpinning their functionality. Ion channel degeneracy, however, implies that multiple ion channel configurations can lead to functionally similar behaviour. Therefore, instead of a single model, neuroscientists often use populations of models with distinct combinations of ionic conductances. This approach is called population (database or ensemble) modelling. It remains unclear, which ion channel parameters in the vast population of functional models are more likely to be found in the brain. Here we argue that Pareto optimality can serve as a guiding principle for addressing this issue by helping to identify the subpopulations of conductance-based models that perform best for the trade-off between economy and functionality. In this way, the high-dimensional parameter space of neuronal models might be reduced to geometrically simple low-dimensional manifolds, potentially explaining experimentally observed ion channel correlations. Conversely, Pareto inference might also help deduce neuronal functions from high-dimensional Patch-seq data. In summary, Pareto optimality is a promising framework for improving population modelling of neurons and their circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Jedlicka
- ICAR3R - Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Faculty of Medicine, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany,Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Neuroscience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, Germany,Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Alexander D. Bird
- ICAR3R - Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Faculty of Medicine, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany,Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany,Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Hermann Cuntz
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Frankfurt am Main, Germany,Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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37
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Khalil R, Kallel S, Farhat A, Dlotko P. Topological Sholl descriptors for neuronal clustering and classification. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010229. [PMID: 35731804 PMCID: PMC9255741 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal morphology is a fundamental factor influencing information processing within neurons and networks. Dendritic morphology in particular can widely vary among cell classes, brain regions, and animal species. Thus, accurate quantitative descriptions allowing classification of large sets of neurons is essential for their structural and functional characterization. Current robust and unbiased computational methods that characterize groups of neurons are scarce. In this work, we introduce a novel technique to study dendritic morphology, complementing and advancing many of the existing techniques. Our approach is to conceptualize the notion of a Sholl descriptor and associate, for each morphological feature, and to each neuron, a function of the radial distance from the soma, taking values in a metric space. Functional distances give rise to pseudo-metrics on sets of neurons which are then used to perform the two distinct tasks of clustering and classification. To illustrate the use of Sholl descriptors, four datasets were retrieved from the large public repository https://neuromorpho.org/ comprising neuronal reconstructions from different species and brain regions. Sholl descriptors were subsequently computed, and standard clustering methods enhanced with detection and metric learning algorithms were then used to objectively cluster and classify each dataset. Importantly, our descriptors outperformed conventional morphometric techniques (L-Measure metrics) in several of the tested datasets. Therefore, we offer a novel and effective approach to the analysis of diverse neuronal cell types, and provide a toolkit for researchers to cluster and classify neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reem Khalil
- American University of Sharjah, Department of Biology Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- * E-mail:
| | - Sadok Kallel
- American University of Sharjah, Department of Mathematics, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
| | - Ahmad Farhat
- Dioscuri Centre in Topological Data Analysis, Mathematical Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Pawel Dlotko
- Dioscuri Centre in Topological Data Analysis, Mathematical Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
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38
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Corgiat EB, List SM, Rounds JC, Yu D, Chen P, Corbett AH, Moberg KH. The Nab2 RNA-binding protein patterns dendritic and axonal projections through a planar cell polarity-sensitive mechanism. G3 (BETHESDA, MD.) 2022; 12:jkac100. [PMID: 35471546 PMCID: PMC9157165 DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkac100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
RNA-binding proteins support neurodevelopment by modulating numerous steps in post-transcriptional regulation, including splicing, export, translation, and turnover of mRNAs that can traffic into axons and dendrites. One such RNA-binding protein is ZC3H14, which is lost in an inherited intellectual disability. The Drosophila melanogaster ZC3H14 ortholog, Nab2, localizes to neuronal nuclei and cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein granules and is required for olfactory memory and proper axon projection into brain mushroom bodies. Nab2 can act as a translational repressor in conjunction with the Fragile-X mental retardation protein homolog Fmr1 and shares target RNAs with the Fmr1-interacting RNA-binding protein Ataxin-2. However, neuronal signaling pathways regulated by Nab2 and their potential roles outside of mushroom body axons remain undefined. Here, we present an analysis of a brain proteomic dataset that indicates that multiple planar cell polarity proteins are affected by Nab2 loss, and couple this with genetic data that demonstrate that Nab2 has a previously unappreciated role in restricting the growth and branching of dendrites that elaborate from larval body-wall sensory neurons. Further analysis confirms that Nab2 loss sensitizes sensory dendrites to the genetic dose of planar cell polarity components and that Nab2-planar cell polarity genetic interactions are also observed during Nab2-dependent control of axon projection in the central nervous system mushroom bodies. Collectively, these data identify the conserved Nab2 RNA-binding protein as a likely component of post-transcriptional mechanisms that limit dendrite growth and branching in Drosophila sensory neurons and genetically link this role to the planar cell polarity pathway. Given that mammalian ZC3H14 localizes to dendritic spines and controls spine density in hippocampal neurons, these Nab2-planar cell polarity genetic data may highlight a conserved path through which Nab2/ZC3H14 loss affects morphogenesis of both axons and dendrites in diverse species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin B Corgiat
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
- Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Sara M List
- Neuroscience Graduate Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - J Christopher Rounds
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
- Genetics and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Dehong Yu
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Ping Chen
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Anita H Corbett
- Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Kenneth H Moberg
- Department of Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
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39
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Scholtens LH, Pijnenburg R, de Lange SC, Huitinga I, van den Heuvel MP. Common Microscale and Macroscale Principles of Connectivity in the Human Brain. J Neurosci 2022; 42:4147-4163. [PMID: 35422441 PMCID: PMC9121834 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1572-21.2022] [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: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The brain requires efficient information transfer between neurons and large-scale brain regions. Brain connectivity follows predictable organizational principles. At the cellular level, larger supragranular pyramidal neurons have larger, more branched dendritic trees, more synapses, and perform more complex computations; at the macroscale, region-to-region connections display a diverse architecture with highly connected hub areas facilitating complex information integration and computation. Here, we explore the hypothesis that the branching structure of large-scale region-to-region connectivity follows similar organizational principles as the neuronal scale. We examine microscale connectivity of basal dendritic trees of supragranular pyramidal neurons (300+) across 10 cortical areas in five human donor brains (1 male, 4 female). Dendritic complexity was quantified as the number of branch points, tree length, spine count, spine density, and overall branching complexity. High-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI was used to construct white matter trees of corticocortical wiring. Examining complexity of the resulting white matter trees using the same measures as for dendritic trees shows heteromodal association areas to have larger, more complex white matter trees than primary areas (p < 0.0001) and macroscale complexity to run in parallel with microscale measures, in terms of number of inputs (r = 0.677, p = 0.032), branch points (r = 0.797, p = 0.006), tree length (r = 0.664, p = 0.036), and branching complexity (r = 0.724, p = 0.018). Our findings support the integrative theory that brain connectivity follows similar principles of connectivity at neuronal and macroscale levels and provide a framework to study connectivity changes in brain conditions at multiple levels of organization.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Within the human brain, cortical areas are involved in a wide range of processes, requiring different levels of information integration and local computation. At the cellular level, these regional differences reflect a predictable organizational principle with larger, more complexly branched supragranular pyramidal neurons in higher order regions. We hypothesized that the 3D branching structure of macroscale corticocortical connections follows the same organizational principles as the cellular scale. Comparing branching complexity of dendritic trees of supragranular pyramidal neurons and of MRI-based regional white matter trees of macroscale connectivity, we show that macroscale branching complexity is larger in higher order areas and that microscale and macroscale complexity go hand in hand. Our findings contribute to a multiscale integrative theory of brain connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lianne H Scholtens
- Complex Traits Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rory Pijnenburg
- Complex Traits Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Siemon C de Lange
- Complex Traits Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Inge Huitinga
- Neuroimmunology Research Group, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Brain Plasticity Group, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martijn P van den Heuvel
- Complex Traits Genetics Department, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Child Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam University Medical Center, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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40
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The branching code: A model of actin-driven dendrite arborization. Cell Rep 2022; 39:110746. [PMID: 35476974 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 12/24/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The cytoskeleton is crucial for defining neuronal-type-specific dendrite morphologies. To explore how the complex interplay of actin-modulatory proteins (AMPs) can define neuronal types in vivo, we focused on the class III dendritic arborization (c3da) neuron of Drosophila larvae. Using computational modeling, we reveal that the main branches (MBs) of c3da neurons follow general models based on optimal wiring principles, while the actin-enriched short terminal branches (STBs) require an additional growth program. To clarify the cellular mechanisms that define this second step, we thus concentrated on STBs for an in-depth quantitative description of dendrite morphology and dynamics. Applying these methods systematically to mutants of six known and novel AMPs, we revealed the complementary roles of these individual AMPs in defining STB properties. Our data suggest that diverse dendrite arbors result from a combination of optimal-wiring-related growth and individualized growth programs that are neuron-type specific.
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41
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Computational synthesis of cortical dendritic morphologies. Cell Rep 2022; 39:110586. [PMID: 35385736 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal morphologies provide the foundation for the electrical behavior of neurons, the connectomes they form, and the dynamical properties of the brain. Comprehensive neuron models are essential for defining cell types, discerning their functional roles, and investigating brain-disease-related dendritic alterations. However, a lack of understanding of the principles underlying neuron morphologies has hindered attempts to computationally synthesize morphologies for decades. We introduce a synthesis algorithm based on a topological descriptor of neurons, which enables the rapid digital reconstruction of entire brain regions from few reference cells. This topology-guided synthesis generates dendrites that are statistically similar to biological reconstructions in terms of morpho-electrical and connectivity properties and offers a significant opportunity to investigate the links between neuronal morphology and brain function across different spatiotemporal scales. Synthesized cortical networks based on structurally altered dendrites associated with diverse brain pathologies revealed principles linking branching properties to the structure of large-scale networks.
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42
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Wu J, Turner N, Bae JA, Vishwanathan A, Seung HS. RealNeuralNetworks.jl: An Integrated Julia Package for Skeletonization, Morphological Analysis, and Synaptic Connectivity Analysis of Terabyte-Scale 3D Neural Segmentations. Front Neuroinform 2022; 16:828169. [PMID: 35311003 PMCID: PMC8924549 DOI: 10.3389/fninf.2022.828169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Benefiting from the rapid development of electron microscopy imaging and deep learning technologies, an increasing number of brain image datasets with segmentation and synapse detection are published. Most of the automated segmentation methods label voxels rather than producing neuron skeletons directly. A further skeletonization step is necessary for quantitative morphological analysis. Currently, several tools are published for skeletonization as well as morphological and synaptic connectivity analysis using different computer languages and environments. Recently the Julia programming language, notable for elegant syntax and high performance, has gained rapid adoption in the scientific computing community. Here, we present a Julia package, called RealNeuralNetworks.jl, for efficient sparse skeletonization, morphological analysis, and synaptic connectivity analysis. Based on a large-scale Zebrafish segmentation dataset, we illustrate the software features by performing distributed skeletonization in Google Cloud, clustering the neurons using the NBLAST algorithm, combining morphological similarity and synaptic connectivity to study their relationship. We demonstrate that RealNeuralNetworks.jl is suitable for use in terabyte-scale electron microscopy image segmentation datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingpeng Wu
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- *Correspondence: Jingpeng Wu,
| | - Nicholas Turner
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - J. Alexander Bae
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - Ashwin Vishwanathan
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
| | - H. Sebastian Seung
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
- Department of Computer Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States
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43
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Liu TX, Davoudian PA, Lizbinski KM, Jeanne JM. Connectomic features underlying diverse synaptic connection strengths and subcellular computation. Curr Biol 2022; 32:559-569.e5. [PMID: 34914905 PMCID: PMC8825683 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2021] [Revised: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Connectomes generated from electron microscopy images of neural tissue unveil the complex morphology of every neuron and the locations of every synapse interconnecting them. These wiring diagrams may also enable inference of synaptic and neuronal biophysics, such as the functional weights of synaptic connections, but this requires integration with physiological data to properly parameterize. Working with a stereotyped olfactory network in the Drosophila brain, we make direct comparisons of the anatomy and physiology of diverse neurons and synapses with subcellular and subthreshold resolution. We find that synapse density and location jointly predict the amplitude of the somatic postsynaptic potential evoked by a single presynaptic spike. Biophysical models fit to data predict that electrical compartmentalization allows axon and dendrite arbors to balance independent and interacting computations. These findings begin to fill the gap between connectivity maps and activity maps, which should enable new hypotheses about how network structure constrains network function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tony X. Liu
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University. 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510,These authors contributed equally
| | - Pasha A. Davoudian
- MD/PhD Program, Yale School of Medicine. 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510,These authors contributed equally
| | - Kristyn M. Lizbinski
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University. 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510,These authors contributed equally
| | - James M. Jeanne
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University. 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510,Lead contact,Correspondence: , Twitter: @neurojeanne
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44
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Fuchs J, Eickholt BJ. Precursor types predict the stability of neuronal branches. J Cell Sci 2021; 134:273430. [PMID: 34766183 PMCID: PMC8714070 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.258983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Branches are critical for neuron function, generating the morphological complexity required for functional networks. They emerge from different, well-described, cytoskeletal precursor structures that elongate to branches. While branches are thought to be maintained by shared cytoskeletal regulators, our data from mouse hippocampal neurons indicate that the precursor structures trigger alternative branch maintenance mechanisms with differing stabilities. Whereas branches originating from lamellipodia or growth cone splitting events collapse soon after formation, branches emerging from filopodia persist. Furthermore, compared to other developing neurites, axons stabilise all branches and preferentially initiate branches from filopodia. These differences explain the altered stability of branches we observe in neurons lacking the plasma membrane protein phospholipid phosphatase-related protein 3 (PLPPR3, also known as PRG2) and in neurons treated with netrin-1. Rather than altering branch stability directly, PLPPR3 and netrin-1 boost a 'filopodia branch programme' on axons, thereby indirectly initiating more long-lived branches. In summary, we propose that studies on branching should distinguish overall stabilising effects from effects on precursor types, ideally using multifactorial statistical models, as exemplified in this study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joachim Fuchs
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Virchowweg 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Britta J Eickholt
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Virchowweg 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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45
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Uçar MC, Kamenev D, Sunadome K, Fachet D, Lallemend F, Adameyko I, Hadjab S, Hannezo E. Theory of branching morphogenesis by local interactions and global guidance. Nat Commun 2021; 12:6830. [PMID: 34819507 PMCID: PMC8613190 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27135-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Branching morphogenesis governs the formation of many organs such as lung, kidney, and the neurovascular system. Many studies have explored system-specific molecular and cellular regulatory mechanisms, as well as self-organizing rules underlying branching morphogenesis. However, in addition to local cues, branched tissue growth can also be influenced by global guidance. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for a stochastic self-organized branching process in the presence of external cues. Combining analytical theory with numerical simulations, we predict differential signatures of global vs. local regulatory mechanisms on the branching pattern, such as angle distributions, domain size, and space-filling efficiency. We find that branch alignment follows a generic scaling law determined by the strength of global guidance, while local interactions influence the tissue density but not its overall territory. Finally, using zebrafish innervation as a model system, we test these key features of the model experimentally. Our work thus provides quantitative predictions to disentangle the role of different types of cues in shaping branched structures across scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mehmet Can Uçar
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
| | - Dmitrii Kamenev
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kazunori Sunadome
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dominik Fachet
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria
- IRI Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10115, Berlin, Germany
| | - Francois Lallemend
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
- Ming-Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Stockholm node, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Igor Adameyko
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Neuroimmunology, Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Saida Hadjab
- Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Edouard Hannezo
- Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Am Campus 1, 3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
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46
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A general principle of dendritic constancy: A neuron's size- and shape-invariant excitability. Neuron 2021; 109:3647-3662.e7. [PMID: 34555313 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.08.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Reducing neuronal size results in less membrane and therefore lower input conductance. Smaller neurons are thus more excitable, as seen in their responses to somatic current injections. However, the impact of a neuron's size and shape on its voltage responses to dendritic synaptic activation is much less understood. Here we use analytical cable theory to predict voltage responses to distributed synaptic inputs in unbranched cables, showing that these are entirely independent of dendritic length. For a given synaptic density, neuronal responses depend only on the average dendritic diameter and intrinsic conductivity. This remains valid for a wide range of morphologies irrespective of their arborization complexity. Spiking models indicate that morphology-invariant numbers of spikes approximate the percentage of active synapses. In contrast to spike rate, spike times do depend on dendrite morphology. In summary, neuronal excitability in response to distributed synaptic inputs is largely unaffected by dendrite length or complexity.
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Shirinpour S, Hananeia N, Rosado J, Tran H, Galanis C, Vlachos A, Jedlicka P, Queisser G, Opitz A. Multi-scale modeling toolbox for single neuron and subcellular activity under Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Brain Stimul 2021; 14:1470-1482. [PMID: 34562659 PMCID: PMC8608742 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2021.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a widely used non-invasive brain stimulation method. However, its mechanism of action and the neural response to TMS are still poorly understood. Multi-scale modeling can complement experimental research to study the subcellular neural effects of TMS. At the macroscopic level, sophisticated numerical models exist to estimate the induced electric fields. However, multi-scale computational modeling approaches to predict TMS cellular and subcellular responses, crucial to understanding TMS plasticity inducing protocols, are not available so far. OBJECTIVE We develop an open-source multi-scale toolbox Neuron Modeling for TMS (NeMo-TMS) to address this problem. METHODS NeMo-TMS generates accurate neuron models from morphological reconstructions, couples them to the external electric fields induced by TMS, and simulates the cellular and subcellular responses of single-pulse and repetitive TMS. RESULTS We provide examples showing some of the capabilities of the toolbox. CONCLUSION NeMo-TMS toolbox allows researchers a previously not available level of detail and precision in realistically modeling the physical and physiological effects of TMS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sina Shirinpour
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
| | - Nicholas Hananeia
- Faculty of Medicine, ICAR3R - Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany
| | - James Rosado
- Department of Mathematics, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Harry Tran
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
| | - Christos Galanis
- Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Vlachos
- Department of Neuroanatomy, Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Bernstein Center Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Center Brain Links Brain Tools, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Center for Basics in Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Peter Jedlicka
- Faculty of Medicine, ICAR3R - Interdisciplinary Centre for 3Rs in Animal Research, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany
| | | | - Alexander Opitz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
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Rochon PL, Theriault C, Rangel Olguin AG, Krishnaswamy A. The cell adhesion molecule Sdk1 shapes assembly of a retinal circuit that detects localized edges. eLife 2021; 10:e70870. [PMID: 34545809 PMCID: PMC8514235 DOI: 10.7554/elife.70870] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 09/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Nearly 50 different mouse retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types sample the visual scene for distinct features. RGC feature selectivity arises from their synapses with a specific subset of amacrine (AC) and bipolar cell (BC) types, but how RGC dendrites arborize and collect input from these specific subsets remains poorly understood. Here we examine the hypothesis that RGCs employ molecular recognition systems to meet this challenge. By combining calcium imaging and type-specific histological stains, we define a family of circuits that express the recognition molecule Sidekick-1 (Sdk1), which include a novel RGC type (S1-RGC) that responds to local edges. Genetic and physiological studies revealed that Sdk1 loss selectively disrupts S1-RGC visual responses, which result from a loss of excitatory and inhibitory inputs and selective dendritic deficits on this neuron. We conclude that Sdk1 shapes dendrite growth and wiring to help S1-RGCs become feature selective.
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Sinha M, Narayanan R. Active Dendrites and Local Field Potentials: Biophysical Mechanisms and Computational Explorations. Neuroscience 2021; 489:111-142. [PMID: 34506834 PMCID: PMC7612676 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2021.08.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 08/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Neurons and glial cells are endowed with membranes that express a rich repertoire of ion channels, transporters, and receptors. The constant flux of ions across the neuronal and glial membranes results in voltage fluctuations that can be recorded from the extracellular matrix. The high frequency components of this voltage signal contain information about the spiking activity, reflecting the output from the neurons surrounding the recording location. The low frequency components of the signal, referred to as the local field potential (LFP), have been traditionally thought to provide information about the synaptic inputs that impinge on the large dendritic trees of various neurons. In this review, we discuss recent computational and experimental studies pointing to a critical role of several active dendritic mechanisms that can influence the genesis and the location-dependent spectro-temporal dynamics of LFPs, spanning different brain regions. We strongly emphasize the need to account for the several fast and slow dendritic events and associated active mechanisms - including gradients in their expression profiles, inter- and intra-cellular spatio-temporal interactions spanning neurons and glia, heterogeneities and degeneracy across scales, neuromodulatory influences, and activitydependent plasticity - towards gaining important insights about the origins of LFP under different behavioral states in health and disease. We provide simple but essential guidelines on how to model LFPs taking into account these dendritic mechanisms, with detailed methodology on how to account for various heterogeneities and electrophysiological properties of neurons and synapses while studying LFPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manisha Sinha
- Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka 560012, India
| | - Rishikesh Narayanan
- Cellular Neurophysiology Laboratory, Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka 560012, India.
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Das R, Bhattacharjee S, Letcher JM, Harris JM, Nanda S, Foldi I, Lottes EN, Bobo HM, Grantier BD, Mihály J, Ascoli GA, Cox DN. Formin 3 directs dendritic architecture via microtubule regulation and is required for somatosensory nociceptive behavior. Development 2021; 148:271101. [PMID: 34322714 DOI: 10.1242/dev.187609] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Dendrite shape impacts functional connectivity and is mediated by organization and dynamics of cytoskeletal fibers. Identifying the molecular factors that regulate dendritic cytoskeletal architecture is therefore important in understanding the mechanistic links between cytoskeletal organization and neuronal function. We identified Formin 3 (Form3) as an essential regulator of cytoskeletal architecture in nociceptive sensory neurons in Drosophila larvae. Time course analyses reveal that Form3 is cell-autonomously required to promote dendritic arbor complexity. We show that form3 is required for the maintenance of a population of stable dendritic microtubules (MTs), and mutants exhibit defects in the localization of dendritic mitochondria, satellite Golgi, and the TRPA channel Painless. Form3 directly interacts with MTs via FH1-FH2 domains. Mutations in human inverted formin 2 (INF2; ortholog of form3) have been causally linked to Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. CMT sensory neuropathies lead to impaired peripheral sensitivity. Defects in form3 function in nociceptive neurons result in severe impairment of noxious heat-evoked behaviors. Expression of the INF2 FH1-FH2 domains partially recovers form3 defects in MTs and nocifensive behavior, suggesting conserved functions, thereby providing putative mechanistic insights into potential etiologies of CMT sensory neuropathies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravi Das
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | | | - Jamin M Letcher
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Jenna M Harris
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Sumit Nanda
- Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Istvan Foldi
- Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, MTA-SZBK NAP B Axon Growth and Regeneration Group, Temesvári krt. 62, Szeged H-6726, Hungary
| | - Erin N Lottes
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | - Hansley M Bobo
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
| | | | - József Mihály
- Biological Research Centre, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics, MTA-SZBK NAP B Axon Growth and Regeneration Group, Temesvári krt. 62, Szeged H-6726, Hungary
| | - Giorgio A Ascoli
- Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
| | - Daniel N Cox
- Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
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