An inexpensive and interactive microcomputer system for codifying Golgi-impregnated neuronal morphology.
An interactive microcomputer system has been developed for the quantitative analysis of Golgi-impregnated neuronal morphology (GINM). The system uses commercially available hardware: a 48K RAM microcomputer (Apple II), a TV monitor (NEC), an optical microscope (Reichert Biovar) with a camera lucida and a specially developed wheel attached to the focus adjustment knob and to a digital planimeter (Tamaya), allowing one to obtain the value of the z-coordinate. The x- and y-coordinates are obtained using the movement of a point plotted by the computer on the TV monitor. This point is superimposed upon the GINM point to be codified employing the camera lucida. The x- and y-coordinates are acquired automatically while the variations of the z-coordinate are introduced by the computer keyboard. The three-dimensional coordinates of the selected GINM points and different codes are stored by the computer in a six-dimensional array. The software is written in BASIC. The results demonstrate that the digitization and quantitative analysis of GINM can be achieved with reasonably inexpensive equipment.
D000818:Animals; D003201:Computers; D008838:Microcomputers; D009445:Neuroanatomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D012984:Software; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology