Digital detection and analysis of branching and cell contacts in neural cell cultures

Changes in human/animal behaviour and the involved neural functions are characterized by structural alterations in the brain circuitry. These changes comprise the formation of new synapses and the elimination of existing synapses aside from the modulation of connecting properties within other ones. The mechanisms of neuronal branching and cell contacting regulate and prepare for the processes of synaptic formation. In this study, we present a set of methods to detect, describe and analyse the dynamics attributed to the process of cell contacting in cell cultures in vitro. This involves the dynamics of branching and seeking for synaptic partners. The proposed technique formally distinguishes between the actual formed synapses and the potential synaptic sites, i.e. where cell contacts are likely. The study investigates the dynamic behaviour of these potential synaptic sites within the process of seeking for contacts. The introduced tools use morphological image processing algorithms to automatically detect the sites of interest. Results indicate that the introduced tools can reliably describe experimentally observed branching and seeking for contacts dynamics. Being straightforward in terms of implementation and analysis, our framework represents a solid method for studying the neural preparation phases of synaptic formation via cell contacting in random networks using standard phase contrast microscopy.