Hall W G, Swithers-Mulvey S E, Agrawal C M, Burka N R, Horner J, Menacherry S
Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706.
Physiol Behav. 1991 Jul;50(1):109-19. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90506-j.
Computer assisted 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiography has been used to provide functional maps of areas of altered neural activity related to changes in an animal's behavior or state. The standard procedure for comparison of autoradiograms between different treatment groups has been to take measurement samples from predefined neuroanatomical regions and to average these across brains to attain statistical sensitivity for detecting treatment effects. Unfortunately, when sampling is restricted to predefined areas, important topographic information is lost along with the ability to reveal an unexpected change in neural activity. To preserve the rich topographical detail of metabolic information and to enhance the capacity to uncover novel areas of altered metabolic activity, we have developed a system for averaging entire images from 2-DG autoradiograms and for comparing the average images from two experimental groups by creating an image of differences. This procedure does not rely on sampling only preselected regions, but still allows statistical comparisons between experimental groups. The procedures we describe can be readily and inexpensively adapted for use in individual laboratories and are based on modifications of preexisting image analysis software. We show that, when average and difference images are created using standardized protocols for sectioning brain tissue and editing section images, they are impressively resolved and realistic and can serve as effective topographic descriptions of group differences in neural activity of functional and behavioral relevance.
计算机辅助2-脱氧葡萄糖（2-DG）放射自显影术已被用于绘制与动物行为或状态变化相关的神经活动改变区域的功能图谱。比较不同治疗组放射自显影片的标准程序是从预先定义的神经解剖区域采集测量样本，并对这些样本在不同大脑间求平均值，以获得检测治疗效果的统计敏感性。不幸的是，当采样仅限于预先定义的区域时，重要的地形信息会丢失，同时揭示神经活动意外变化的能力也会丧失。为了保留代谢信息丰富的地形细节，并增强发现代谢活动改变新区域的能力，我们开发了一种系统，用于对2-DG放射自显影片的整个图像求平均值，并通过创建差异图像来比较两个实验组的平均图像。该程序不依赖于仅对预选区域进行采样，但仍允许在实验组之间进行统计比较。我们所描述的程序可以很容易且低成本地适用于各个实验室，并且是基于对现有图像分析软件的修改。我们表明，当使用标准化方案对脑组织切片并编辑切片图像来创建平均图像和差异图像时，它们具有令人印象深刻的分辨率且逼真，可以作为与功能和行为相关的神经活动中组间差异的有效地形描述。
