Benchmarking of tools for axon length measurement in individually-labeled projection neurons
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Anatomía, Histología y NeurocienciaPublisher
Public Library of ScienceDate
2021-12-08Citation
10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009051
PLoS Computational Biology 17.12 (2021): e1009051
ISSN
1553-7358 (online); 1553-734X (print)DOI
10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009051Funded by
This study was supported by the following grants: European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/info/index_en (Grant Agreement No. 945539 - HBP SGA3, to MR, MG, CP, LP, FC); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) https://www.ciencia.gob.es/, FLAGERA grant NeuronsReunited, grant number: PCI2019-111900-2 to MR, MG, CP, LP, FC; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación grant number: BFU2017-88549 to MR, MG, CP, LP, FC; Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa” https:// fundacionlacaixa.org/es/ Grant number: 100010434 to SDH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscriptProject
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ECH2020/945539/EU//ATHLOSEditor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009051Subjects
MedicinaRights
© 2021 Rubio-Teves et alAbstract
Projection neurons are the commonest neuronal type in the mammalian forebrain and their individual characterization is a crucial step to understand how neural circuitry operates. These cells have an axon whose arborizations extend over long distances, branching in complex patterns and/or in multiple brain regions. Axon length is a principal estimate of the functional impact of the neuron, as it directly correlates with the number of synapses formed by the axon in its target regions; however, its measurement by direct 3D axonal tracing is a slow and labor-intensive method. On the contrary, axon length estimations have been recently proposed as an effective and accessible alternative, allowing a fast approach to the functional significance of the single neuron. Here, we analyze the accuracy and efficiency of the most used length estimation tools—design-based stereology by virtual planes or spheres, and mathematical correction of the 2D projected-axon length—in contrast with direct measurement, to quantify individual axon length. To this end, we computationally simulated each tool, applied them over a dataset of 951 3D-reconstructed axons (from NeuroMorpho.org), and compared the generated length values with their 3D reconstruction counterparts. The evaluated reliability of each axon length estimation method was then balanced with the required human effort, experience and know-how, and economic affordability. Subsequently, computational results were contrasted with measurements performed on actual brain tissue sections. We show that the plane-based stereological method balances acceptable errors (~5%) with robustness to biases, whereas the projection-based method, despite its accuracy, is prone to inherent biases when implemented in the laboratory. This work, therefore, aims to provide a constructive benchmark to help guide the selection of the most efficient method for measuring specific axonal morphologies according to the particular circumstances of the conducted research
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Rubio-Teves, Mario
-
Díez-Hermano, Sergio
-
Porrero Calzado, César
-
Sánchez Jiménez, Abel
-
Prensa Sepúlveda, Lucía
-
Clasca Cabre, Francisco
-
García-Amado Sancho, María
-
Villacorta Atienza, José Antonio
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
A simple and Efficient in Vivo non-viral RNA transfection method for labeling the whole axonal tree of individual adult long-range projection neurons
Porrero, César; Rodríguez-Moreno, Javier; Quetglas, José I.; Smerdou, Cristian; Furuta, Takahiro; Clasca, Francisco
2016-03-18