Neuronal dendrite and spine measurement by Image J analysis.

A typical dendrite segment from a pyramidal neuron is shown, and the six quantification parameters labeled as follows. 1) Total dendrite area is measured by drawing a box around the whole image; 2) dendrite diameter is obtained by drawing a line across the dendrite thickness at a place of average width; 3) spine density is the total number of spines divided by the dendrite length; 4) spine area is measured by drawing a box around the whole spine; 5) Dendrite length uses the broken line tool to measure the length and 6) Spine length. (Smith et al., 2009. Reversal of long-term dendritic spine alterations in Alzheimer disease models. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106: 16877-16882. Copyright (2009) National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A.)