ArticleFrontiers in neuroanatomy2009
Counting Synapses Using FIB/SEM Microscopy: A True Revolution for Ultrastructural Volume Reconstruction.
Article in Frontiers in neuroanatomy, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers.
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104 citing papers in PubMed.
- Quantitative anatomy and biophysical modeling of ascending neuromodulatory systems in the developing rat neocortex.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Synaptic density in the hippocampus of depressed patients: A quantitative electron microscopic study.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2026Article
- Volume electron microscopy in axon regeneration research: insights into mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and membrane contacts.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2026Review
- Pathway-Specific Ultrastructure of Thalamocortical Synapses in Mouse Somatosensory Area S2.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Article
- Molecular mechanisms of α-syn abnormal phase separation in cognitive impairment induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia and the neuroprotective effects of Danshensu methyl ester.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Volume electron microscopy reveals 3D synaptic nanoarchitecture in postmortem human prefrontal cortex.iScience · 2025Article
- Neuroprotective mitochondria targeted small molecule restores synapses and the distribution of synaptic mitochondria in the hippocampus of APP/PS1 mice.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Volume electron microscopy reveals unique laminar synaptic characteristics in the human entorhinal cortex.eLife · 2025Article
- Loss of Bmal1 impairs the glutamatergic light input to the SCN in mice.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025Article
- Dendritic synaptome of calcium-binding protein containing GABAergic interneurons in the mouse primary visual cortex.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2025Article
- Volume electron microscopy analysis of synapses in primary regions of the human cerebral cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2024Article
- Tracing nerve fibers with volume electron microscopy to quantitatively analyze brain connectivity.Communications biology · 2024Article
- The application and development of electron microscopy for three-dimensional reconstruction in life science: a review.Cell and tissue research · 2024Review
- Dynamic changes in endoplasmic reticulum morphology and its contact with the plasma membrane in motor neurons in response to nerve injury.Cell and tissue research · 2024Article
- Unambiguous identification of asymmetric and symmetric synapses using volume electron microscopy.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2024Article
- 3D synaptic organization of layer III of the human anterior cingulate and temporopolar cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Three-dimensional ultrastructure analysis of organelles in injured motor neuron.Anatomical science international · 2023Review
- Cortical synapses of the world's smallest mammal: An FIB/SEM study in the Etruscan shrew.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2023Article
- Computational models reveal how chloride dynamics determine the optimal distribution of inhibitory synapses to minimise dendritic excitability.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Single-Neuron Labeling in Fixed Tissue and Targeted Volume Electron Microscopy.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2022Article
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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5 authors.
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Abstract
The advent of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in the 1950s represented a fundamental step in the study of neuronal circuits. The application of this technique soon led to the realization that the number of synapses changes during the course of normal life, as well as under certain pathological or experimental circumstances. Since then, one of the main goals in neurosciences has been to define simple and accurate methods to estimate the magnitude of these changes. Contrary to analysing single sections, TEM reconstructions are extremely time-consuming and difficult. Therefore, most quantitative studies use stereological methods to define the three-dimensional characteristics of synaptic junctions that are studied in two dimensions. Here, to count the exact number of synapses per unit of volume we have applied a new three-dimensional reconstruction method that involves the combination of focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB/SEM). We show that the images obtained with FIB/SEM are similar to those obtained with TEM, but with the advantage that FIB/SEM permits serial reconstructions of large volumes of tissue to be generated rapidly and automatically. Furthermore, we compared the estimates of the number of synapses obtained with stereological methods with the values obtained by FIB/SEM reconstructions. We concluded that FIB/SEM not only provides the actual number of synapses per volume but it is also much easier and faster to use than other currently available TEM methods. More importantly, it also avoids most of the errors introduced by stereological methods and overcomes the difficulties associated with these techniques.
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