Figure 1

Automated detection of dendritic spines using images of Lifeact-expressing neurons. (a) Images depict a representative 3D reconstruction of a 17 DIV rat hippocampal neuron expressing Lifeact-ruby (white) and the automated trace generated by Filament Tracer (blue). Scale bar is 10 μm. (b) Automated and manual spine counts were performed within the same dendritic regions. Top: A dendritic segment of a Lifeact-ruby-expressing neuron (white) and the corresponding automated trace (dendrite: red, spines: blue) as well as manually marked spines (yellow spheres) are shown. Middle: Lifeact-ruby signal (white) is overlayed by the automated trace (shown alone at right). Bottom: Lifeact-ruby signal (white) is overlayed by manual spine marks (yellow; shown alone at right). (c) For each dendritic segment, the manual spine count was plotted against the automated count. Linear regression analysis showed that manual and automated spine detection were significantly correlated (n = 28; β = 0.824; p < 0.001).