Quantitative Anatomy for assembling large scale neural networks
-
1
Max Planck Florida Institute, United States
Sensory deprivation, as well as neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, cause substantial changes in brain function and anatomy, which ultimately result in behavioral deficits. Therefore, over the last 5 years, Marcel Oberlaender and his colleagues developed methods to image and quantify 3D neuron and neuronal network anatomy. These methods allow determining the number and three-dimensional distribution of all neurons in large volumes of brain tissue, the tracing of all processes from individual neurons, their classification and interconnection to realistic neural networks (see Figure). Illustration of the “Networks in silico project”. High resolution 3D image stacks of the entire brain lay the foundation to quantify the structure and 3D distribution of all neurons within functional neuronal networks. Here, the whisker-related thalamocortical pathway in rats is reconstructed.
So far these methods were limited to certain brain regions such as the somatosensory cortex or thalamus. However, recent developments in imaging techniques and computing power will allow in principle the application of these methods to the entire mouse or rat brain. The department of “Digital Neuroanatomy” at the newly founded “Max Planck Florida Institute for Integrative Biology and Neurosciences” therefore aims to determine the total number and three-dimensional distribution of all neurons in brains of “normal” mice. The resultant “cellular atlas” of the mouse brain will function as an unbiased reference for anatomical changes at cellular level caused by sensory deprivation or disease.
Conference:
Neuroinformatics 2010 , Kobe, Japan, 30 Aug - 1 Sep, 2010.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Workshop 2: Synaptoprojectomes: assembling, using and sharing dense cellular micromaps of brains
Citation:
Oberlaender
M
(2010). Quantitative Anatomy for assembling large scale neural networks.
Front. Neurosci.
Conference Abstract:
Neuroinformatics 2010 .
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.13.00005
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
08 Jun 2010;
Published Online:
08 Jun 2010.
*
Correspondence:
Marcel Oberlaender, Max Planck Florida Institute, Jupiter, United States, oberlaender@neuro.mpg.de