Automated Imaging Microscope System

The Automated Imaging Microscope System (AIMS) was developed by scientists at the Aging Research Centre (ARC) and the University of California, Berkeley. Steven A. Garan, was the lead scientists that developed the AIMS system along with Warren Freitag and Jason Neudorf, and many journals articles have been published about the system and the results that it produced. Since the completion of the first version in 1998, newer versions were developed, with the final version being completed in 2006. Empowering investigators to accurately count specific cell populations is essential to all fields of neurobiology. While computer assisted counting technology has been in use for over a decade, advances in an Automated Imaging Microscope System (AIMS), now insure 97% accuracy when comparing computer counts to human counts for both nuclear and cytoplasmic stained tissue. More importantly, regional analysis can now be customized so that only cell populations within specified anatomic regions will be targeted for counting, thus reducing the background noise of non-immunoreactive cells when characterizing specific cell populations. This application was recently used to successfully map the density and distribution of both nuclear expressed estrogen receptor-alpha and cytoplasmicly expressed IGF-1 receptor in specific hypothalamic nuclei. Furthermore, AIMS can now detect intra-hypothalamic differences in receptor expression and measure phenomenon such as lateralization. By using this technology, the evaluation of tissue-level biology can be used to establish neuroendocrine biomarkers of aging, and analyze the neuroendocrine effects of caloric restriction and gene knockout models that extend the lifespan.

Publications

 * "Novel methods in computer-assisted tissue analysis: Customized regional targeting of both cytoplasmic and nuclear-stained tissue". Experimental Gerontology, Volume 42, Issues 1-2, January-February 2007, Pages 141-142


 * "Tracking changes in hypothalamic IGF-1 sensitivity with aging and caloric restriction". Experimental Gerontology, Volume 42, Issues 1-2, January-February 2007, Pages 11-12.


 * "Insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor immunoreactive cells are selectively maintained in the paraventricular hypothalamus of calorically restricted mice". Int J Dev Neurosci. 2007 Feb;25(1):23-8


 * "Age-dependent loss of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor immunoreactive cells in the supraoptic hypothalamus is reduced in calorically restricted mice". Int J Dev Neurosci. 2006 November;24(7):431-6.


 * "A study of insulin-like growth factor-I receptor immunoreactivity in the supraoptic nucleus of young and old female B6D2F1 mice". FASEB Journal, April 2006, 357.5


 * "Caloric restriction reduces cell loss and maintains estrogen receptor-alpha immunoreactivity in the pre-optic hypothalamus of female B6D2F1 mice", Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2005 June;26(3):197-203.


 * "A survey of estrogen receptor-alpha immunoreactivity in the hypothalamus of young, old, and old-calorie restricted female B6D2F1 mice", Experimental Gerontology, Volume 39, Issues 11-12, November-December 2004, Page 1771


 * "Protocol for higher resolution histological images of the mammalian brain", Experimental Gerontology, Volume 39, Issues 11-12, November-December 2004, Page 1770


 * "Automated Imaging Microscope System", Linux Journal 2000, Issue 70, February, Page 32-35