Classification Of 3D Dendritic Spines Using SOM

This work in progress shows a method for classifying dendritic spines by their shape. Focal points are the extraction of features from three-dimensional spine data and the following classification of the spines. Hence there will be only little reflection of biological aspects of this problem. Feature extraction based on moments and spherical coordinates will be discussed. Furthermore, this paper shows and describes a modified kind of Kohonen map and Neural Gas, which are used for the classification of the dendritic spines. 1 Introduction Biological examination often depends strongly on image-processing and image-analysing methods. The same is true for research concerning dendritic spines in the brain. Different forms of learning processes, such as filial imprinting, are accompanied by changes in the density of spines. Domestics chicks have been imprinted to acoustic stimuli show reduced densities of spine synapses on a distinct neuron type [1]. Preliminary qualitative examination reve..