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Multiscale Analysis of Neurite Orientation and Spatial Organization in Neuronal Images

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Abstract

The spatial organization of neurites, the thin processes (i.e., dendrites and axons) that stem from a neuron’s soma, conveys structural information required for proper brain function. The alignment, direction and overall geometry of neurites in the brain are subject to continuous remodeling in response to healthy and noxious stimuli. In the developing brain, during neurogenesis or in neuroregeneration, these structural changes are indicators of the ability of neurons to establish axon-to-dendrite connections that can ultimately develop into functional synapses. Enabling a proper quantification of this structural remodeling would facilitate the identification of new phenotypic criteria to classify developmental stages and further our understanding of brain function. However, adequate algorithms to accurately and reliably quantify neurite orientation and alignment are still lacking. To fill this gap, we introduce a novel algorithm that relies on multiscale directional filters designed to measure local neurites orientation over multiple scales. This innovative approach allows us to discriminate the physical orientation of neurites from finer scale phenomena associated with local irregularities and noise. Building on this multiscale framework, we also introduce a notion of alignment score that we apply to quantify the degree of spatial organization of neurites in tissue and cultured neurons. Numerical codes were implemented in Python and released open source and freely available to the scientific community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Rd, Houston, TX, 77004, USA

    Pankaj Singh, Pooran Negi, Manos Papadakis & Demetrio Labate

  2. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Blvd, Galveston, TX, 77555, USA

    Fernanda Laezza

Authors
  1. Pankaj Singh
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  2. Pooran Negi
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  3. Fernanda Laezza
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  4. Manos Papadakis
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  5. Demetrio Labate
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Demetrio Labate.

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Funding

D.L and M.P. acknowledge partial support of grant NSF-DMS 1320910 and a GEAR 2015 grant from the University of Houston. F.L. acknowledges partial support of grant NIH R01 MH095995.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Pankaj Singh and Pooran Negi contributed equally to this work.

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Singh, P., Negi, P., Laezza, F. et al. Multiscale Analysis of Neurite Orientation and Spatial Organization in Neuronal Images. Neuroinform 14, 465–477 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-016-9306-9

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