Neuroinformatics
© Copyright 2006 by Humana Press Inc.
All rights of any nature whatsoever are reserved.
1539-2791/06/65–80/$30.00 (Online) 1559-0089
DOI: 10.1385/NI:4:1:65
Original Article
Abstract
The thorough characterization of transgenic
mouse models of human central nervous sys-
tem diseases is a necessary step in realizing the
full benefit of using animal models to investi-
gate disease processes and potential therapeutics.
Because of the labor- and resource-intensive
nature of high-resolution imaging, detailed
investigation of possible structural or bio-
chemical alterations in brain sections has typi-
cally focused on specific regions of interest as
determined by the researcher a priori. For
example, Parkinson’s disease researchers often
focus imaging on regions of the brain expected
to exhibit pathology such as the substantia nigra
and striatum. Because of limitations in acquiring
and storing high-resolution imaging data,
additional data contained in the specimen is not
usually acquired or disseminated/reported to
the research community. Here we present a
method of imaging large regions of brain at
close to the resolution limit of light microscopy
using a mosaic imaging technique in conjunc-
tion with multiphoton microscopy. These maps
are being used to characterize several geneti-
cally modified animal models of neurological
disease by filling the information “gap” among
techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging
and electron microscopic analysis.
Index Entries: Large-scale imaging; animal
models; multiphoton; database; Biomedical
Informatics Research Network.
(Neuroinformatics DOI: 10.1385/NI:4:1:65)
High-Resolution Large-Scale Mosaic Imaging Using
Multiphoton Microscopy to Characterize Transgenic
Mouse Models of Human Neurological Disorders
Diana L. Price, Sunny K. Chow, Natalie A. B. MacLean, Hiroyuki Hakozaki, Steve Peltier,
Maryann E. Martone,
*
and Mark H. Ellisman
National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, Center for Research in Biological Systems,
Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093-0608
65
*Author to whom all correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed.
E-mail: mmartone@ucsd.edu