MouseLight Neuron AA0031

A vast neural tracing effort by a team of Janelia scientists has upped the number of fully-traced neurons in the mouse brain by a factor of 10. Researchers can now download and browse the data in three dimensions. <br>Inside the mouse brain, individual neurons zigzag across hemispheres, embroider branching patterns and, researchers have now discovered, can even spool out spindly fibers up to 45 centimeters long.<br>Scientists can see and explore these wandering neural traces in 3-D in the most detailed map of mouse brain wiring yet created. The map reconstructs the shape and position of more than 300 of the 70 million neurons in the mouse brain. Previous efforts to trace the path of individual neurons had topped out in the dozens. <br>The selectively-labeled neurons were mapped in an iterative process with two-photon microscopy. The brain is sliced in 200-micron sections and a few dozen neurons are labeled at a time and imaged. Each brain imaged yields about 50 terabytes of data, each containing mapped neurons which can be browsed via the NeuronBrowser application. Researchers interested in the complete raw data set should contact Janelia to discuss obtaining it via hardware transfer.

贾内利亚研究所（Janelia）的科研团队开展了一项大规模神经追踪研究，将小鼠大脑中已完整追踪的神经元数量提升了10倍。如今研究人员可下载并以三维形式浏览该数据集。<br>在小鼠大脑内部，单个神经元会在左右脑半球间蜿蜒穿行，织就出繁复的分支结构；研究人员此番还发现，神经元甚至可延伸出长达45厘米的纤细纤维。<br>科学家们可通过迄今构建的最精细的小鼠大脑神经连接图谱，以三维视角观察并探索这些蜿蜒的神经追踪结果。该图谱重构了小鼠大脑7000万神经元中逾300个的形态与位置。此前针对单个神经元路径的追踪研究，最多仅能完成数十个神经元的追踪工作。<br>本次研究通过双光子显微镜（two-photon microscopy）的迭代成像流程，对选择性标记的神经元进行了成像绘制。研究人员将小鼠大脑切成200微米厚的脑片，每次对数十个神经元进行标记并成像。每枚成像的大脑样本可产生约50太字节的数据，其中包含已绘制的神经元，可通过NeuronBrowser应用程序进行浏览。若研究人员需要完整的原始数据集，请联系贾内利亚研究所（Janelia），通过硬件传输的方式洽谈获取事宜。