Semi-automated region of interest generation for the analysis of optically recorded neuronal activity.

ABSTRACT: Bath-applied membrane-permeant Ca(2+) indicators offer access to network function with single-cell resolution. A barrier to wider and more efficient use of this technique is the difficulty of extracting fluorescence signals from the active constituents of the network under study. Here we present a method for semi-automatic region of interest (ROI) detection that exploits the spatially compact, slowly time-varying character of the somatic signals that these indicators typically produce. First, the image series is differenced to eliminate static and very slowly varying fluorescence values, and then the differenced image series undergoes low-pass filtering in the spatial domain, to eliminate temporally isolated fluctuations in brightness. This processed image series is then thresholded so tha

SUBMITTER: Mellen NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2796125 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature