However, independently traced cells cannot reveal the nature of connections in a local microcircuit because the overlapping dendritic trees will likely be incompatible. Because the renderings can be mathematically rotated, a 2 dimensional computer screen can be used to examine a neuron's 3 dimensional nature.
This quantified morphology can be analyzed statistically or rendered on a computer screen. Modern computer technology allows researchers to trace neurons in 3D from microscopy images to quantify the morphology ( Glaser and Glaser, 1990 Al-Kofahi et al., 2002 Kaynig et al., 2015).
The Golgi method, developed in the late nineteenth century, was the first technique to allow distinguishing individual neurons with a microscope. There has been slow but steady progress in the ability to visualize and study neuron morphologies. Visualizing these structures in their true 3-dimensional morphology is therefore a critical challenge in relating structure to function. This applies at all levels: the gross brain, the individual regions, the circuits within and between regions, and the neurons themselves. The nervous system contains the most complex 3-dimensional structures of any organ in the body. To provide additional context, 3DModelDB provides a simulatable version of each cell, links to papers that use or describe it, and links to associated entries in other databases. We share our printable models in a new database, 3DModelDB, and encourage others to do the same with cells that they generate using our code or other methods. We show that 3D printed cells can be readily examined, manipulated, and compared with other neurons to gain insight into both the biology and the reconstruction process. Our method for generating printable versions of a cell or group of cells is to expand dendrite and axon diameters and then to transform the tracing into a 3D object with a neuronal surface generating algorithm like Constructive Tessellated Neuronal Geometry (CTNG). We introduce the use of 3D printing as a technique for visualizing traced morphologies. Tracings can be visualized on the computer screen, used for statistical analysis of the properties of different cell types, used to simulate neuronal behavior, and more. In a quest to understand this neuronal diversity, researchers have three-dimensionally traced tens of thousands of neurons many of these tracings are freely available through online repositories like NeuroMorpho.Org and ModelDB. Neurons come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
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