Biology subjects

Toth, T. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Toth, T. D..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Dynamo: An open-source Python application for quantifying neuronal structural plasticity over time

Neurons exhibit tremendous structural plasticity during the growth of dendritic and axonal arbors in early brain circuit formation, followed by experience-driven structural plasticity throughout life. Advances in labeling and in vivo time-lapse imaging allow capture of dynamic structural changes within intact and awake animals, and fluorescent biosensors of neural activity offer opportunities to link structural and functional plasticity. However, the resulting large multi-dimensional data sets are challenging to quantify due to time-consuming tracking of minute structural changes throughout complex neuronal morphologies across time. Here, we present Dynamo: an open-source Python application that enables dynamic morphometrics, the quantitative analysis of morphological changes over time, by streamlining arbor reconstruction, registration of structures across time, and quantitative analyses of growth behavior. Dynamo yields rich characterization of neural structural changes necessary for determining how rapid growth events culminate into long-term patterning, linking structural and functional plasticity, and for identifying underlying molecular mechanisms.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Comprehensive imaging of synaptic activity reveals dendritic growth rules that cluster inputs

The distribution of synapses across dendritic arbors determines their contribution to neural computations since nonlinear conductances amplify co-active clustered inputs. To determine whether, and how patterned synaptic topography arises during development we developed a random-access microscope capable of full-neuron calcium imaging of activity and structural plasticity of developing neurons in awake Xenopus tadpoles. By imaging growing brain neurons in response to plasticity-inducing visual training, we show coordinated growth and synaptogenesis specific to each neurons spike tuning. High evoked activity in neurons tuned to the trained stimulus induced pruning of non-driven inputs across the dendritic arbor as these neurons strengthened their responses to this stimulus. In stark contrast, initially unresponsive neurons that shifted their spike tuning toward the trained stimulus exhibited localized growth and new responsive synapses near existing active inputs. These information-driven growth rules promote clustering of synapses tuned to a developing neurons emerging receptive field. One-Sentence SummarySensory input directs brain neuronal growth and connectivity promoting clustering of synaptic inputs tuned to a neurons encoding properties.

neuroscience↗