Zebra finch whole brain atlas

The goal of the experiment is to acquire an entire zebra finch brain (480±10 mm3; n=4, mean±std) at a voxel size of 720 nm, which is sufficient to identify cell bodies and trace individual large myelinated axons (> 2 µm diameter). Tracing these axons will allow us to generate a detailed map of how different brain areas communicate with each other, which is of particular interest for stuttering behavior and will be a future invaluable resource for general speech and vocal learning research with the songbird as its key model organism.

本实验旨在获取完整的斑胸草雀（zebra finch）全脑，其体积为(480±10) mm³（样本量n=4，数据以均值±标准差表示），扫描体素尺寸为720 nm，该分辨率足以识别细胞体并追踪直径大于2 µm的大型有髓轴突。通过追踪这些轴突，我们可以构建不同脑区间相互通信的精细图谱，该图谱对口吃行为的研究具有特殊意义，同时也将成为以鸣禽为核心模式生物的通用言语与发声学习研究领域未来极为宝贵的研究资源。