EN
Little is known about the relationship between neuronal gene expression and the architecture of the neuronal cell nucleus. We wanted to study the cell nuclei in neurons of the mouse cerebral cortex, using confocal microscopic immunocytochemistry. We used a segmentation algorithm, based on continuous boundary tracing, able to reconstruct the nucleus surface and to separate adjacent nuclei (Walczak et al. 2013). The algorithm did not use a rigid threshold what made it robust against variations in image intensity and poor contrast. However, when we analyzed mouse, but not rat, neuronal nuclei there have occurred a considerable problem with an appropriate segmentation. This problem was related to the presence of the discrete chromocenters, which are much more prominent in the mouse that in other species. Therefore, in order to assure the proper segmentation, we used sections co-immunostained for the lamin protein. Our refined program is an efficient segmentation tool for crowded and overlapping objects in 3D space, regardless of the particular species. It allows us to study quantitatively the architecture of the neuronal nucleus using confocal-microscopic approach.