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aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology

Large-scale data analysis of synaptic morphology is becoming increasingly important to the field of neurobiological research (e.g. ‘connectomics’). In particular, a detailed knowledge of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) morphology has proven to be important for understanding the form and function of syn...

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Autores principales: Minty, Gavin, Hoppen, Alex, Boehm, Ines, Alhindi, Abrar, Gibb, Larissa, Potter, Ellie, Wagner, Boris C., Miller, Janice, Skipworth, Richard J. E., Gillingwater, Thomas H., Jones, Ross A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7211862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32431902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200128
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author Minty, Gavin
Hoppen, Alex
Boehm, Ines
Alhindi, Abrar
Gibb, Larissa
Potter, Ellie
Wagner, Boris C.
Miller, Janice
Skipworth, Richard J. E.
Gillingwater, Thomas H.
Jones, Ross A.
author_facet Minty, Gavin
Hoppen, Alex
Boehm, Ines
Alhindi, Abrar
Gibb, Larissa
Potter, Ellie
Wagner, Boris C.
Miller, Janice
Skipworth, Richard J. E.
Gillingwater, Thomas H.
Jones, Ross A.
author_sort Minty, Gavin
collection PubMed
description Large-scale data analysis of synaptic morphology is becoming increasingly important to the field of neurobiological research (e.g. ‘connectomics’). In particular, a detailed knowledge of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) morphology has proven to be important for understanding the form and function of synapses in both health and disease. The recent introduction of a standardized approach to the morphometric analysis of the NMJ—‘NMJ-morph’—has provided the first common software platform with which to analyse and integrate NMJ data from different research laboratories. Here, we describe the design and development of a novel macro—‘automated NMJ-morph’ or ‘aNMJ-morph’—to update and streamline the original NMJ-morph methodology. ImageJ macro language was used to encode the complete NMJ-morph workflow into seven navigation windows that generate robust data for 19 individual pre-/post-synaptic variables. The aNMJ-morph scripting was first validated against reference data generated by the parent workflow to confirm data reproducibility. aNMJ-morph was then compared with the parent workflow in large-scale data analysis of original NMJ images (240 NMJs) by multiple independent investigators. aNMJ-morph conferred a fourfold increase in data acquisition rate compared with the parent workflow, with average analysis times reduced to approximately 1 min per NMJ. Strong concordance was demonstrated between the two approaches for all 19 morphological variables, confirming the robust nature of aNMJ-morph. aNMJ-morph is a freely available and easy-to-use macro for the rapid and robust analysis of NMJ morphology and offers significant improvements in data acquisition and learning curve compared to the original NMJ-morph workflow.
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spelling pubmed-72118622020-05-19 aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology Minty, Gavin Hoppen, Alex Boehm, Ines Alhindi, Abrar Gibb, Larissa Potter, Ellie Wagner, Boris C. Miller, Janice Skipworth, Richard J. E. Gillingwater, Thomas H. Jones, Ross A. R Soc Open Sci Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Large-scale data analysis of synaptic morphology is becoming increasingly important to the field of neurobiological research (e.g. ‘connectomics’). In particular, a detailed knowledge of neuromuscular junction (NMJ) morphology has proven to be important for understanding the form and function of synapses in both health and disease. The recent introduction of a standardized approach to the morphometric analysis of the NMJ—‘NMJ-morph’—has provided the first common software platform with which to analyse and integrate NMJ data from different research laboratories. Here, we describe the design and development of a novel macro—‘automated NMJ-morph’ or ‘aNMJ-morph’—to update and streamline the original NMJ-morph methodology. ImageJ macro language was used to encode the complete NMJ-morph workflow into seven navigation windows that generate robust data for 19 individual pre-/post-synaptic variables. The aNMJ-morph scripting was first validated against reference data generated by the parent workflow to confirm data reproducibility. aNMJ-morph was then compared with the parent workflow in large-scale data analysis of original NMJ images (240 NMJs) by multiple independent investigators. aNMJ-morph conferred a fourfold increase in data acquisition rate compared with the parent workflow, with average analysis times reduced to approximately 1 min per NMJ. Strong concordance was demonstrated between the two approaches for all 19 morphological variables, confirming the robust nature of aNMJ-morph. aNMJ-morph is a freely available and easy-to-use macro for the rapid and robust analysis of NMJ morphology and offers significant improvements in data acquisition and learning curve compared to the original NMJ-morph workflow. The Royal Society 2020-04-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7211862/ /pubmed/32431902 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200128 Text en © 2020 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology
Minty, Gavin
Hoppen, Alex
Boehm, Ines
Alhindi, Abrar
Gibb, Larissa
Potter, Ellie
Wagner, Boris C.
Miller, Janice
Skipworth, Richard J. E.
Gillingwater, Thomas H.
Jones, Ross A.
aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title_full aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title_fullStr aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title_full_unstemmed aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title_short aNMJ-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
title_sort anmj-morph: a simple macro for rapid analysis of neuromuscular junction morphology
topic Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7211862/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32431902
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200128
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