title: PyramidalExplorer: A New Interactive Tool to Explore Morpho-Functional Relations of Human Pyramidal Neurons.
abstract: This work presents PyramidalExplorer, a new tool to interactively explore and reveal the detailed organization of the microanatomy of pyramidal neurons with functionally related models. It consists of a set of functionalities that allow possible regional differences in the pyramidal cell architecture to be interactively discovered by combining quantitative morphological information about the structure of the cell with implemented functional models. The key contribution of this tool is the morpho-functional oriented design that allows the user to navigate within the 3D dataset, filter and perform Content-Based Retrieval operations. As a case study, we present a human pyramidal neuron with over 9000 dendritic spines in its apical and basal dendritic trees. Using PyramidalExplorer, we were able to find unexpected differential morphological attributes of dendritic spines in particular compartments of the neuron, revealing new aspects of the morpho-functional organization of the pyramidal neuron.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Rey Juan CarlosMadrid, Spain; Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toharia
authors.affiliation: Universidad Rey Juan CarlosMadrid, Spain; Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Oscar D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Robles
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fernaud-Espinosa
authors.affiliation: Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Makarova
authors.affiliation: Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Sergio E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Galindo
authors.affiliation: Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain; Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Sistemas Informáticos, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.affiliation: Universidad Rey Juan CarlosMadrid, Spain; Center for Computational Simulation, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pastor
authors.affiliation: Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Herreras
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain; Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: DeFelipe
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Cajal de Circuitos Corticales, Centro de Tecnología Biomédica, Universidad Politécnica de MadridMadrid, Spain; Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasMadrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Benavides-Piccione
keywords: 3D reconstructions; cerebral cortex; dendritic spines; functional models; visual analysis