A Simulation-Based 3D Axon Axis Extraction in Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy Images

Neuron axon analysis is a fundamental mean to investigate nervous system in neurobiology and often requires collecting a great amount of statistical information. Automated extraction of axons axis in 3D microscopic images posts a key problem in the field of neuron axon analysis. To address tortuous axons with several touchings in 3D volumes, a novel simulation based approach with regard to volume modeling and scenario mapping is presented. Given the simulation model, the properties of dataset and the nature of axon (e.g., continuity) are converted to physics laws including the principle of minimum potential energy, law of buoyancy, and law of inertia. Experimental results on axon volumes show the proposed algorithm can effectively handle axon touching problem and actually extract multiple axon axes.