A SYSTEM FOR QUANTITATIVE MORPHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT AND ELECTROTONIC MODELING OF NEURONS - 3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

A system for accurately reconstructing neurones from optical sections taken at high magnification is described. Cells are digitised on a 680 00-based microcomputer to form a database consisting of a series of li nked nodes each consisting of x, y, z coordinates and an estimate of d endritic diameter. This database is used to generate three-dimensional (3-D) displays of the neurone and allows quantitative analysis of the cell volume, surface area and dendritic length. Images of the cell ca n be manipulated locally or transferred to an IBM 3090 mainframe where a wireframe model can be displayed on an IBM 5080 graphics terminal a nd rotated interactively in real time, allowing visualisation of the c ell from all angles. Space-filling models can also be produced. Recons tructions can also provide morphological data for passive electrical s imulations of hippocampal pyramidal cells.