There are 100 billion neurons in the human brain, and each neuron can produce thousands of connections or synapses, which may generate tens of billions of connections. Neuroscientists know the role of individual neurons very well, but how do they coordinate for large numbers of neurons? Work, and produce ideas, feelings and even behaviors know very little.
Researchers often use microscopes to observe nerve connections, but they are both laborious and expensive. Traditional techniques for identifying connections between nerve cells are called fluorescent single neuron tracings, which introduce a protein gene that produces green light into cells for observation with an optical microscope. The connection of neurons.
The team used traditional methods to track 31 neuronal connections from the visual cortex to another 7 cortical regions. Using new technical methods, they completed connections from 591 neurons in just 3 weeks. The traditional method takes 3 years to complete.
The new technology is called MAPseq and it works by genetically 'barcoding' the cells. The researchers injected viruses containing random RNA sequences into the mouse brain. After entering the cells, each virus expresses a unique 30-letter or nucleotide The RNA sequences that make up and the proteins that the cells naturally transport along the axons. The proteins are designed to bind to RNA 'barcodes' and both are dragged along the axons. Then, mouse target brain regions are dissected and sequenced. You can see which labeled neurons are connected to which area. The more connections between neurons and the target area, the more neuron 'barcodes' will appear in the sequencing data in that area.
This is the first time to describe the organization of long-distance neuron connections in the cortex, which helps to improve the brains of humans such as cognitive autism and schizophrenia, says neuroscientist Podod Loska of the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Eye Sciences in Switzerland. The speed of nerve disease.