Automatic quantification of fast axonal transport in neuronal cell cultures

A method is presented which allows the automatic quantification of the fast axonal transport of endogenous organelles in neurites of cultured neuronal cells. Stretches of videotape recordings from Allen video enhanced contrast (AVEC) microscopy are digitized by currently available image processor hardware and analysed off-line on a MicroVAX II. Movements along the axon are calculated in great detail, allowing statistically significant changes to be detected. Interaction from the operator is minimised, thereby bypassing tedious manual analysis. This paper further reports the application of this system to the effect of vanadate treatment on axonal transport in cultures of rat embryonic hippocampal neurons.