Neurons of the human dentate nucleus: box-count method in the quantitative analysis of cell morphology Dušica L. Mari Department of Anatomy Medical faculty, University of Novi Sad, Serbia E-mail: maricduska@gmail.com Nebojša T. Miloševi Department of Biophysics Medical faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia E-mail: mtn@med.bg.ac.rs Herbert F. Jelinek Department of Biomedical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE E-mail: hjelinek@csu.edu.au Katarina Rajkovi Laboratory for Image Analysis in Medicine Medical faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia E-mail: katar1970@gmail.com Abstract-The morphology of neurons from the human dentate nucleus was analyzed estimating the size and shape of the dendritic field, shape of the neuron, space-filling property and the degree of dendrite aberrations. Among them, the last three morphological properties were investigated using the most popular technique of fractal analysis: the box-count method. The box dimensions of binary images and dendritic field area were statistically investigated in order to test whether the binary box dimension can quantify the size of the neuron. The same analysis was carried out using the box dimension of outline images and image circularity. The parameters, presented in this study have proved to be a useful means for quantifying the morphology of dentate neurons as they provide a robust means of differentiating between neuron subtypes in the dentate nucleus. The findings of the present study are in accordance with previous qualitative data. Keywords-Box dimension, Cerebellar cortex, Fractal analysis, Neuronal Morphology, Two dimensional images I. INTRODUCTION The dentate nuclei, the largest and phylogenetically most recent of the cerebellar nuclei are located in the right and left hemisphere of the cerebellar white matter and play a role as a major relay center between the cortex and other parts of the brain. The dentate nuclei are responsible for the planning, initiation and control of volitional movements [1]. Although the geometry of the neuronal soma and dendritic fields has been previously studied in the dentate nuclei, a quantitative classification of neuronal types and their analysis was not satisfactorily explored. According to various qualitative studies [2-5], the dentate nuclei consist of large neurons with long axons and small neurons with short axons. In the above cited publications, the neuronal morphology and determination of neuron types were primarily based on qualitative descriptions of the shape and size of the cell bodies [6]. One of the earliest descriptions of neurons in the human dentate nuclei was based on Golgi stained neurons of the neonatal human cerebellum [2,3]. Recent descriptions offer some new data concerning the neuronal morphology of the dentate nuclei at various gestational ages [7-12] and early postnatal ages [8,13]. In adult human dentate nuclei, some authors described the presence of two cell types [5], while other have proven that the class of large neurons could be further subdivided into four types: central, border, asymmetrical and fusiform multipolar neurons [14,15]. Thus, we undertook the present study with the aim to investigate features of the large neurons in prenatal and adult human dentate nuclei. For that purpose, we estimated the size and shape of the dendritic field, shape of the neuron, space- filling property and the degree of dendrite aberrations of the neurons. The shape of the neuron, space-filling property and the degree of dendrite aberrations were estimated using the box- count method of fractal analysis. In addition, box dimensions of binary images and dendritic field area, as well as the box dimension of outline images and image circularity, were statistically investigated in order to test whether box dimensions can quantify the size of the neuron and the shape of the dendritic field. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS Camera lucida drawings of forty-two Golgi impregnated neurons were taken from dentate nuclei of human fetuses ranging from 24 to 41 gestational weeks (gw). The fetal cadavers were collected either from hysterectomy or autopsy [11]. The gestational age of the fetuses was estimated by taking into consideration the fetal crown rump length, biparietal diameter, the foot length as well as the maternal history of last menstrual period and the size of the uterus [16]. 2013 19th International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science 978-0-7695-4980-4/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/CSCS.2013.33 319 2013 19th International Conference on Control Systems and Computer Science 978-0-7695-4980-4/13 $26.00 © 2013 IEEE DOI 10.1109/CSCS.2013.33 319