Image of the Week - 25 February 2003

Synapse Identification in a Mouse Visual Cortex

This image is of a transmission electron micrograph of the mouse visual cortex, acquired digitally using the ITG’s Philips CM200, and tiled (5x5) using Teitz imaging software. This is the seventh of ten serial micrographs, and on each micrograph in the series, synapses were circled as they appeared (different color for each micrograph). This method allows for an unbiased estimate of synapse density in the neural tissue. Software for aligning micrographs and tracing synapses available at http://synapses.bu.edu/ and in the VMIL. This research is conducted under the advisement of Dr. William Greenough an Aaron W. Grossman.

Image Courtesy: Nick Elisseou, Hooma Khaliq, Ok-kyung Kim, Loukas Koyonos, Jessica Martellaro, Cyrus Press, Ken Schulz, Brad Shufelt, Aaron Grossman

Contact: awgrossm@uiuc.edu, wgreenou@uiuc.edu