SYNAPCOUNTJ

Introduction

This free code is an ImageJ plugin that allows one to count the number of synapses of a neuron.

This plugin, is a joint work between the team "Structural Synaptic Plasticity" of SpineUp and "Programming and Symbolic Computation Team” of University of La Rioja.

Author

Gadea Mata Martínez (gadea.mata at gmail dot com or gadea.mata at unirioja dot es)

Description

Synapses are the points of connection between neurons. The relevance of synapses comes from the fact that they are related to the computational capabilities of the brain. The possibility of changing the number of synapses may be an important asset in the treatment of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer. This plugin provides a semi-automatic method for counting synapses. This tool needs two images which are obtained using laboratory techniques. The images are obtained from the same neuron in a concrete moment using two antibody markers: bassoon and synapsin.