Figure 5

Exocrine pancreas iDISCO image analysis pipeline and TH axon volume and length. (a) Maximum intensity projection of a control pancreas slice is shown depicting key image analysis steps with Neurolucida360. TH axons (red) and α-cells (GCG, green) delineate sympathetic axons and islets, respectively. (b) Islets are contoured (white) based on GCG signal. (c) Slice outlines are shown contoured in white and orange for the first and last slices, respectively, and all slice outlines were used to determine total sample volume (µm³). (d) TH axons were automatically traced following thresholding and individual axons were displayed in separate colors. (e) Merged image showing overlays of TH axons and islet and slice contours. Scale bar: 500 µm. (f) Exocrine TH axon volumes (µm³) were not significantly different between groups. (g) Exocrine TH axon lengths (µm) volumes were not significantly different between groups. Data were plotted for all TH axon volumes and lengths per donor (n = 1381–8197 axons/donor) for 4 donors in each group. Statistical significance was tested using 1-way ANOVA for nested tables.