IMAGE ANALYSIS AND ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM FOR NEUROBIOLOGY

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Rapid technical developments in electronics and computing have recently made it possible to collect and analyze data concerning the three-dimensional structure of cells. These advances are particularly important to the field of neurobiology because of the three-dimensional complexity of neurons and the relationship of this complexity to the function of the nervous system. it is now possible to obtain accurate, reproducible measurements and reconstructions of the complex shape of neurons. The availability of this technology is changing the way neurobiologists conceive of cell-cell interactions in both the adult and developing nervous system and is contributing greatly to an improved understanding of the functional significance of this three-dimensional complexity. The equipment requested has three purposes: 1) three-dimensional reconstruction of the dendritic trees of neurons impregnated by the Golgi method or filled by an intracellular dye, 2) three-dimensional reconstruction of electron microscopically obtained serial sections, and 3) the enhancement and digitization of images stained with fluorescent dyes or visualized by differential interference contrast or other optical enhancement methods. This equipment or other equipment with similar capabilities is not available on this campus or on the adjoining campus of Rutgers University. The equipment requested in this application will provide a diverse group of neuroscientists with modern morphological capabilities that are essential to the contemporary neurobiology.