Using specimens that were collected over three decades from zoos, researchers at Humboldt University of Berlin examined facial motor control in African and Asian elephants. As described in their recent paper in Science Advances, they examined cell number, size, and position in the facial nucleus; conducted quantitative nerve tracing, and performed comparative analyses with other animals and between the two elephant types. The researchers found...
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We are pleased to announce that the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) has endorsed the MBF Bioscience neuromorphological file format as a standard. The file format is used in our products for neuroscience research for important applications such as digital neuron tracing, brain mapping and stereological analyses. MBF Bioscience products, including Neurolucida, Neurolucida 360, Stereo Investigator, Vesselucida 360, and NeuroInfo use this neuromorphological file format. This file...
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When we flex our thumb or point our finger, axons carry impulses from the brain to neurons in the spinal cord, which send messages to the muscles in our hands. In an important study in 1983, Jenny and Inukai at the Washington University School of Medicine reported the organizational patterns of those finger movement motoneuron columns in the primate spinal cord. Now, nearly 40 years...
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Our health depends on the ability of blood vessels to deliver nutrients and remove metabolic byproducts from organs and muscle systems. But what happens to this delicately balanced process after traumatic injury? Scientists generally understand that skeletal muscles can regenerate, but little is known about how this happens at the level of our microvasculature. [caption id="attachment_7659" align="aligncenter" width="699"] Representative maps of resistance networks from feed artery...
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As an unborn baby develops in the womb, its growth depends on a variety of factors, genetics among them. But sometimes a fetus doesn’t grow as much as is normally expected in relation to its gestational age. This is called intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or fetal growth restriction (FGR)....
Read More Our state-of-the-art software for performing unbiased stereology is getting an upgrade. Faster, stronger, and better, has been a theme for us lately, as we improve our products across the board, but one place where this is especially striking is in Stereo Investigator. Set for release this spring, the new and improved Stereo Investigator will include a new imaging engine, display engine, automatic camera alignment, automatic lens calibration, the double disector, and live video zooming. “I’m...
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Researchers at Colorado College may have identified a new neuropathological hallmark of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Their findings, published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, describe overall dendritic atrophy across cortical neurons and greater morphological variability in CTE brains compared to controls. A neurodegenerative disorder characterized by late-onset symptoms like depression, confusion, and memory loss, CTE is caused by repeated impacts to the brain. The disease...
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Scientists at Western Sydney University used Stereo Investigator and Neurolucida 360 to quantify cells in a mouse model of neuroinflammation after feeding mice two different curcumin formulations. Some inflammation is normal in a healthy mammalian brain. But as the brain ages, processes can break down, leading to chronic neuroinflammation. This can develop into Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Scientists at Prof. Gerald Muench’s lab, at...
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Researchers Quantify Improvement in Heart Vasculature with Vesselucida 360 and Vesselucida Explorer Cells need oxygen to survive, but during a heart attack, blood flow is restricted and cardiac cells can’t get the oxygen they need to stay alive. A new therapy, developed by researchers at the Coulombe Lab at Brown University may be able to provide the heart with the support it needs to recover after...
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Combination of new microscopy and expansion tissue preparation methods facilitate better and faster analysis of subcellular neural elements. Today, the journal Science published a paper authored by a research team led by Dr. Ed Boyden of MIT and Nobel Prize recipient Dr. Eric Betzig of Janelia Research Campus. Among the authors are MBF Bioscience Scientific Director Dr. Susan Tappan and Senior Software Engineer Alfredo Rodriguez. In the...
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