Neuronal morphology affects network connectivity, plasticity, and information processing. Uncovering the design principles and functional consequences of dendritic and axonal shape necessitates quantitative analysis and computational modeling of detailed experimental data. Digital reconstructions provide the required neuromorphological descriptions in a parsimonious, comprehensive, and reliable numerical format. NeuroMorpho.Org is the largest web-accessible repository service for digitally reconstructed neurons and one of the integrated resources in the Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF). Here we describe the NeuroMorpho.Org approach as an exemplary experience in designing, creating, populating, and curating a neuroscience digital resource. The simple three-tier architecture of NeuroMorpho.Org (web client, web server, and relational database) encompasses all necessary elements to support a large-scale, integrate-able repository. The data content, while heterogeneous in scientific scope and experimental origin, is unified in format and presentation by an in house standardization protocol. The server application (MRALD) is secure, customizable, and developer-friendly. Centralized processing and expert annotation yields a comprehensive set of metadata that enriches and complements the raw data. The thoroughly tested interface design allows for optimal and effective data search and retrieval. Availability of data in both original and standardized formats ensures compatibility with existing resources and fosters further tool development. Other key functions enable extensive exploration and discovery, including 3D and interactive visualization of branching, frequently measured morphometrics, and reciprocal links to the original PubMed publications. The integration of NeuroMorpho.Org with version-1 of the NIF (NIFv1) provides the opportunity to access morphological data in the context of other relevant resources and diverse subdomains of neuroscience, opening exciting new possibilities in data mining and knowledge discovery. The outcome of such coordination is the rapid and powerful advancement of neuroscience research at both the conceptual and technological level.
Pubmed ID: 18949582 RIS Download
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Centrally curated inventory of digitally reconstructed neurons associated with peer-reviewed publications that contains some of the most complete axonal arborizations digitally available in the community. Each neuron is represented by a unique identifier, general information (metadata), the original and standardized ASCII files of the digital morphological reconstruction, and a set of morphometric features. It contains contributions from over 100 laboratories worldwide and is continuously updated as new morphological reconstructions are collected, published, and shared. Users may browse by species, brain region, cell type or lab name. Users can also download morphological reconstructions for research and analysis. Deposition and distribution of reconstruction files ultimately prevents data loss. Centralized curation and annotation aims at minimizing the effort required by data owners while ensuring a unified format. It also provides a one-stop entry point for all available reconstructions, thus maximizing data visibility and impact.
View all literature mentionsFramework for identifying, locating, relating, accessing, integrating, and analyzing information from neuroscience research. Users can search for and add neuroscience-related resources at NIF portal and receive and RRID to track and cite resources within scientific manuscripts.
View all literature mentionsNeuroMorpho.Org light species ontology is a customized taxonomy for species available in NeuroMorpho.Org. This file is created from the existing resources like NCBI Taxonomy, NIF organism, Rat strain ontology, and Jax mice catalogue. The OBO file can be explored and downloaded from the NCBO bioportal service. The current NCBI_NMOsp_v1.2.2.obo file consists of 887 concepts of which 24 unique classes are mapped onto species & strains data in NeuroMorpho.Org database.
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