Synapse maps - FIBSEM

We have processed brain material from transgenic mice expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) coupled with the synaptic protein PSD95 (EGFP95) in order to accomplish the automated counting process using 3D connected components of fluorescent puncta in stacks of confocal microscope images for the CA1 region of the hippocampal formation. Adjacent brain sections have been processed with 3D electron microscopy using FIB/SEM in order to cross-validate and interpret confocal data with ultrastructural data on the number and size of PSD puncta in different brain regions. Furthermore, we have developed a PSDs volume segmentation and quantification algorithm designed to be executed in a supercomputer in order to obtain results in multiple brain regions in a short time.