Dendritic Spines in Learning and Memory: From First Discoveries to Current Insights

Heck, Nicolas; Santos, Marc Dos

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-36159-3_7

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Since each spine corresponds to a glutamatergic synapse, the density of spines located along the dendrite is a measure of the density of neuronal connectivity. Spine density measurement is thus pivotal for assessing connectivity changes during development, upon synaptic plasticity and learning, as well as in the context of psychiatric diseases (Holtmaat and Svoboda, 2009;Penzes et al, 2011;Ma and Zuo, 2022;Heck and Santos, 2023). The morphology of dendritic spines, which are composed of a neck and a head, is another relevant parameter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spot Spine, a freely available ImageJ plugin for 3D detection and morphological analysis of dendritic spines

Gilles,

Mailly,

Ferreira

et al. 2024

F1000Res

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Background Dendritic spines are tiny protrusions found along the dendrites of neurons, and their number is a measure of the density of synaptic connections. Altered density and morphology is observed in several pathologies, and spine formation as well as morphological changes correlate with learning and memory. The detection of spines in microscopy images and the analysis of their morphology is therefore a prerequisite for many studies. We have developed a new open-source, freely available, plugin for ImageJ/FIJI, called Spot Spine, that allows detection and morphological measurements of spines in three dimensional images. Method Local maxima are detected in spine heads, and the intensity distribution around the local maximum is computed to perform the segmentation of each spine head. Spine necks are then traced from the spine head to the dendrite. Several parameters can be set to optimize detection and segmentation, and manual correction gives further control over the result of the process. Results The plugin allows the analysis of images of dendrites obtained with various labeling and imaging methods. Quantitative measurements are retrieved including spine head volume and surface, and neck length. Conclusion The plugin and instructions for use are available at https://imagej.net/plugins/spot-spine.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%