System for advanced automated 3D microvascular analysis in neuroplasticity

Abstract It has become evident that the microvasculaturei emicroscopically small blood vesselsplays a critical role in the plasticity of the brain for fundamental processesineurogenesisiimigration of neuronal precursors to their final destination in the brainiiiaxonaldendritic and synaptic plasticity during brain developmentlearningaging and neurodegenerationandivrecovery from traumatic brain injury and brain inflammationFor more than thirty yearsinvestigators have attempted to tracereconstructvisualize and quantitatively characterize the three dimensionalDmorphology of the brainandapos s microvasculature in normal and pathological tissueD microangioarchitectonicsYetD microangioarchitectonics is rarely used in neuroscience research due to the paucity of adequate toolsThe investigators who have started to studyD microangioarchitectonics use software tools that were developed for other purposesBecause these software tools make use of data models which are inappropriate forD microangioarchitectonics and have not been validated against a manually established ground truththe results must be considered faulty and irreproducibleTo remedy this untenable situation we propose to create Vesselucidaan innovative software product to perform advancedaccurate and reproducible automaticD microangioarchitectonics in normal and pathological brain tissueThis software will allow significant advancements inineuroscience research that addresses the roles of microvessels on various aspects of neuroplasticityandiipharmacological and biotechnology research and developmentThese advancements will be the basis for the development of innovative treatments to fight complex brain diseasesDuring Phase I we successfully established proof of concept and demonstrated that the development of Vesselucida represents substantial progress beyond the state of the artwith great benefits for the neuroscience research community and society in general Narrative The proposed project will enable important new researchthat is not currently feasibleinto the critical role of the microvasculature in the plasticity of the brain under various physiological and pathological conditions such as brain developmentlearningrecovery from traumatic brain injury and brain inflammationaging and neurodegenerationTo achieve this aimthe proposed project will commercialize an innovative image analysis system to automatically reconstruct the blood vessel network in normal and pathological brain tissue at the light microscopic levelThis system will open new horizons in basic neuroscience research with regards to the roles of microvessels on various aspects of neuroplasticity as well as in pharmacological and biotechnology research and developmenteventually leading to the development of innovative treatments to fight complex mental health disorders