Efficient implementation of convolutional neural networks in the data processing of two-photon in vivo imaging

MOTIVATION: Functional imaging at single-neuron resolution offers a highly efficient tool for studying the functional connectomics in the brain. However, mainstream neuron-detection methods focus on either the morphologies or activities of neurons, which may lead to the extraction of incomplete information and which may heavily rely on the experience of the experimenters. RESULTS: We developed a convolutional neural networks and fluctuation method-based toolbox (ImageCN) to increase the processing power of calcium imaging data. To evaluate the performance of ImageCN, nine different imaging datasets were recorded from awake mouse brains. ImageCN demonstrated superior neuron-detection performance when compared with other algorithms. Furthermore, ImageCN does not require sophisticated training for users. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: ImageCN is implemented in MATLAB. The source code and documentation are available at https://github.com/ZhangChenLab/ImageCN. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.