Fig. 1.

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) spine length uses the broken line tool to measure the length; and 6) spine head diameter again uses the broken line tool in Image J to measure the diameter across the head of the spine.