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VayTek offers Advanced Image Processing Systems, including both hardware and software for:

• Microscopy
• Industrial Inspection
• Medical Imaging
• Quality Control
• Non-Destructive Testing
• Deconvolution of Confocal Images
• 3D Volume Visualization and Measurement

VayTek, Inc.
505 North Third Street
Suite 200
Fairfield, IA 52556
Tel 641-472-2227
Fax 641-472-8131
Email vaytek@vaytek.com

Application Note

How Astrocytes and Microglia Orchestrate the Response of Neural Tissue to Physiological and Pathological Stimuli

Richard Kraig, Ph.D., M.D. in his laboratory.

Rodent astrocytes in primary culture. Image courtesy of the Kraig Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Chicago.

The image on the right above shows rodent astrocytes, in primary culture, that were stained with the fluorescent dye, CellTracker(TM) from Molecular Probes, Inc. (Eugene, OR). The image was created using a 12-bit electronic camera (CH250; Photometrics, Tucson, AZ) and a 50x oil immersion lens with a 1.0 numerical aperture. The image is 184 microns by 184 microns (1024 x 1024 pixels), 1 micron thick, and consists of five individual images sampled every 0.2 microns. (The image on this Web page was downsized and saved as a lower resolution JPEG.) Out-of-focus haze from individual images was removed by using digital deconvolution software, VayTek's MicroTome(TM) for Windows 95. The MicroTome software employed a constrained iterative algorithm run at five passes and it utilized an experimentally determined point-spread-function derived from 0.2 micron fluorescent beads photographed every 0.2 microns for a total of five images. All images were background-corrected before deconvolution. Individual images were assembled into the final three-dimensional composite using VoxBlast(TM) version 1.3 from VayTek. The composite was then printed with a dye sublimation printer.

Work in the Kraig laboratory centers on understanding glia, fundamental cells within the brain. Laboratory personnel concentrate their efforts on how astrocytes and microglia orchestrate the response of neural tissue to physiological and pathological stimuli. Questions actively pursued in the laboratory include: what role astrocytes and microglia have in making, maintaining, and modifying synapses; how these cells influence the evolution of ischemic brain injury; and how they regulate the capacity for regeneration after ischemic injury. In addition, lab personnel study how glia may participate in the development of inflammation from Alzheimer's disease.

The Kraig lab includes its director, Richard P. Kraig, Ph.D., M.D. (Professor of Neurology, Pharmacological & Physiological Sciences & the Committee on Neurobiology); Phillip E. Kunkler, Ph.D. (Research Associate, Instructor); Mr. Raymond Hulse (Microsystems Support Technician); Mrs. Marcia P. Kraig (Senior Research Technician); and Anthony O. Caggiano and Christopher D. Lascola (MSTP graduate students in the Committee on Neurobiology).

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