Automated Axon Tracking of 3D Confocal Laser Scanning ...

The seeds found by the mean-shift algorithm using the constraints is shown in Figure 6(c)and the corresponding segmentation result using seeded watershed algorithm is shown in Figure6(d).(a)(b)(c)(d)Figure 6 - Seeds estimated by the mean-shift algorithm: (a) Wrongly estimated seeds, shown inside the yellowellipse, found without constraints, (b) Segmentation results using seeds in (a), (c) Seeds found using constraints, and(d) Segmentation results using seeds in (c). The scale bars in the figures correspond to 1μm.2.2.2 Segmentation of axon cross-sectionsOnce the seed points are estimated, the axon cross-sections are segmented using the seededwatershed algorithm. The seeds act as the starting points for the segmentation algorithm and alsoprevent over-segmentation, a common problem with watershed algorithm. Figure 7 compares thesegmentation results of five axons with and without the introduction of seeds.17