CellRemorph: A Toolkit for Transforming, Selecting, and Slicing 3D Cell Structures on the Road to Morphologically...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Computational Biology
• Biophysics

Background:

• Astrocyte morphology is crucial for understanding their functions.
• Computational models require accurate and detailed astrocyte structures.
• Existing tools may lack specific functionalities for astrocyte morphology manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce CellRemorph, a novel toolkit for manipulating astrocyte morphologies.
• To provide tools for transforming and segmenting astrocyte models for simulations.
• To enhance the creation of realistic astrocyte models for research.

Main Methods:

• CellRemorph is implemented as an add-on for Blender, a 3D modeling software.
• It enables transformation between polygonal surface meshes and adjustable surface point clouds.
• Features include precise selection of nanoprocesses and slicing morphologies by surface area or volume.

Main Results:

• CellRemorph is the first toolkit to offer bidirectional mesh-to-point cloud transformation for astrocyte morphologies.
• It provides novel functionalities for detailed morphological segmentation.
• The toolkit is open-source with an intuitive graphical user interface.

Conclusions:

• CellRemorph facilitates the creation of realistic astrocyte morphologies for detailed simulations.
• This toolkit enhances the study of astrocyte roles in both healthy and diseased states.
• It represents a valuable addition to existing 3D biological data manipulation tools.