PC-BASED SOFTWARE FOR BIOIMAGING MICROSCOPY

THIS PROJECT WILL CONDUCT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON THE PERSONAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, NEUROLUCIDA, WHICH IS INTENDED FOR USE IN BIOIMAGING AND COMPUTER MICROSCOPY. ITSMAJOR APPLICATION IS TO LIGHT MICROSCOPY. IT IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO ELECTRON MICROSCOPY WHERE IT WOULD FACILITATE SERIAL SECTION THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3-D) RECONSTRUCTIONS. IT WOULD PERMIT USERS TO ACQUIRE, ANALYZE, AND DISPLAY 3-D DATATHAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MAPPING AND MORPHOMETRY OF NEURONS IN THE CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. THE DESIGN CONCEPT IS BASED UPON IMAGE-COMBINING COMPUTER MICROSCOPY. IMAGE DATA ACQUISITION, BASED UPON IMAGE SUPERPOSITION, IS RAPID AND SIMPLE. IT IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO VIDEO MICROSCOPY, AND THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO CAN MATERIALLY ASSIST IN APPLICATIONS INVOLVING BOTH. DESIGN FEATURES TO BE EXPLORED, DEVELOPED, AND TESTED INCLUDE: (1) APPLICABILITY TO A WIDE VARIETY OF PERIPHERALS,INCLUDING COMPUTER-CONTROLLED STAGES, VIDEO ACQUISITION SUBSYSTEMS, POINTERS, DISPLAYS, PRINTERS, AND PLOTTERS, SO THAT NEUROLUCIDA CAN BE USED WITH DIVERSE LABORATORY IMAGINGSYSTEMS; (2) ABILITY TO TRANSFER IMAGE DATA FILES TO EXISTING DATABASE AND SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE FOR INCREASED ANALYTICAL CAPABILITIES; AND (3) METHODS FOR CROSS-REFERENCING VIDEO IMAGE FILES TO COMPUTER GRAPHIC DISPLAY LIST FILES OF THE SAME STRUCTURES.