Mitra, Partha P. (September 2014) The Circuit Architecture of Whole Brains at the Mesoscopic Scale. Neuron, 83 (6). pp. 1273-1283. ISSN 0896-6273
Abstract
Vertebrate brains of even moderate size are composed of astronomically large numbers of neurons and show a great degree of individual variability at the microscopic scale. This variation is presumably the result of phenotypic plasticity and individual experience. At a larger scale, however, relatively stable species-typical spatial patterns are observed in neuronal architecture, e.g., the spatial distributions of somata and axonal projection patterns, probably the result of a genetically encoded developmental program. The mesoscopic scale of analysis of brain architecture is the transitional point between a microscopic scale where individual variation is prominent and the macroscopic level where a stable, species-typical neural architecture is observed. The empirical existence of this scale, implicit in neuroanatomical atlases, combined with advances in computational resources, makes studying the circuit architecture of entire brains a practical task. A methodology has previously been proposed that employs a shotgun-like grid-based approach to systematically cover entire brain volumes with injections of neuronal tracers. This methodology is being employed to obtain mesoscale circuit maps in mouse and should be applicable to other vertebrate taxa. The resulting large data sets raise issues of data representation, analysis, and interpretation, which must be resolved. Even for data representation the challenges are nontrivial: the conventional approach using regional connectivity matrices fails to capture the collateral branching patterns of projection neurons. Future success of this promising research enterprise depends on the integration of previous neuroanatomical knowledge, partly through the development of suitable computational tools that encapsulate such expertise.
| Item Type: | Paper |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons > neuronal circuits organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons > neuronal circuits organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > cell types and functions > cell types > neurons > neuronal circuits Investigative techniques and equipment > Whole Brain Circuit Mapping |
| CSHL Authors: | |
| Communities: | CSHL labs > Mitra lab |
| Depositing User: | Matt Covey |
| Date: | 17 September 2014 |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Sep 2014 15:13 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2017 15:25 |
| PMCID: | PMC4256953 |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/30821 |
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