A QUANTITATIVE METHOD FOR MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS IN NEURONAL CELL-CULTURE - UNBIASED ESTIMATION OF NEURON AREA AND NUMBER OF BRANCH-POINTS

The morphology and fine structure of neurons in vivo as well as in vit ro are influenced by a variety of cell-adhesion and extracellular matr ix molecules and soluble growth factors. To examine the effects of suc h molecules, we have developed a new method for the quantitation of se veral parameters associated with the morphology of neurons in culture. Whereas methods which have been traditionally used to perform quantit ative morphometric analysis of neurons in vitro are often time-consumi ng and subjective, the methods we describe provide a rapid, efficient, and unbiased approach to morphometric analysis of cultured neurons.