title: Fractal analysis of dendrite morphology using modified box-counting method.
abstract: The box-counting dimension of a non-stellate neuron changes continuously with its rotation. During preprocessing for box-counting, non-stellate neurons should be arranged so that the major diameters of their dendrite fields are parallel. A non-stellate neuronal picture should have the smallest fractal dimension when the angle between the horizontal axis and its major diameter is about 45°. The box-counting method does not consider the position of a picture on the computer screen. Therefore a dispersion of the box dimension values of a neuronal sample is rather large and their mean value is with larger variance. Modified box-counting method partly diminishes these findings. To improve a dependence of neuronal rotation on the box-counting dimension of non-stellate neurons, prior to applying box-counting method, non-stellate neurons should be arranged so that the major diameters of their dendrite fields are parallel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics, Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia. Electronic address: dusan@ristanovic.com.
authors.forename: Dušan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ristanović
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Bratislav D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Stefanović
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology, Medical Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Nela
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Puškaš
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D003712:Dendrites / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017709:Fractals; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
keywords: Fisher's test; Neuronal rotation; Non-stellate neurons; Paired experiment; Variance