Neurite Outgrowth Assessment Using High Content Analysis Methodology

High content analysis of neurite outgrowth enables the rapid and comprehensive phenotypic assessment of individual neurons in a multiwell format amenable to high throughput assays. The resulting data are considered “high content” because multiple measurements of neuronal outgrowth and morphometric data are calculated from hundreds of individual cells within each image. This approach has been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry to accelerate neurological drug discovery and in vitro safety assessment. High content technology utilizes automated fluorescent and/or brightfield microscopy for image acquisition. The acquired images are then quantified using mathematical algorithms to measure pertinent neurobiological morphometric information, including neurite length, count, and extent of branching for each cell within the images. Furthermore, evaluation of the individual cell-level measurements enables the detection of subpopulations of cellular responders not apparent when examining well-level averages. Using this technology, neurite outgrowth can be quantified in each well, derived from hundreds of cell measurements in a 96-well microplate in approximately 30 min.