Confocal laser scanning microscopy and 3-D reconstructions of neuronal structures in human brain cortex

Human brain material was studied with Lucifer yellow (LY) microinjections, indirect Texas red immunofluorescence, and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The scanned images were transferred to a Silicon Graphics (SG) IRIS computer equipped with software for reconstructing the 3-D architecture of cells. By employing dual channel CLSM (Bio-Rad MRC 600), LY-injected cells and Texas red immunofluorescence could be studied simultaneously. Autopsy material with 2- to 48-h postmortem delays (6 control and 2 Rett's syndrome cases) as well as biopsy material (14 cases with therapy-resistant partial epilepsy--TRPE--undergoing neurosurgery) were used. In each specimen, 100-200 pyramidal and nonpyramidal neurons were visualized by LY microinjection. Single neurons were imaged and 2-D reconstructions of each neuron were made using z-projections of serial optical images; 3-D reconstructions and rotations were computed using the SG workstation, with VoxelView software from Vital Images (UK), and stored in a "neuronal library" on laser or magnetic optical disks. In Ret's syndrome cases and in patients with TRPE various abnormalities in the dendritic geometry of pyramidal and nonpyramidal cells have been found. The combination of LY injections with immunofluorescence allows the investigation of transmitter-related substances around the LY-injected cells. Using antibodies to synaptic vesicle proteins, presynaptic elements docking onto individual spines have been demonstrated. This approach may contribute to the understanding of different neurological and psychiatric disorders and may be useful in the Mapping of the Human Brain project. It may also be integrated with functional imaging by PET scan and with the human genome project.