Quantification of dendrites and dendritic spines

Brain slices acquired from the peri-contusive areas 14 days after TBI (100 μm-thick) were viewed under a confocal microscope at 20× and 120× to quantify the dendritic spines. The higher magnification images were used for the calculations. The structure and number of secondary dendritic spines were recorded and described as follows: 1) filopodia spine, length > 2 μm; 2) long-thin spine, length < 2 μm; 3) thin spine, length < 1 μm; 4) stubby spine, length/width ratio < 1; 5) mushroom spine, width > 0.6 μm; and 6) branched spine, two or more heads. We regarded mushroom, stubby, and branched spines as mature spines (Risher et al., 2014).