A new technique reveals how information is processed

Scientists have discovered a new method for quickly and efficiently mapping the vast network of connections between brain neurons.

The researchers combined infrared laser stimulation techniques and functional magnetic resonance imaging in animals to generate mapping of connections throughout the brain. The technique was described in a study published in the journal Progress of science.

"It's a revolution in detecting connections in the brain," said Anna Wang Roe, Ph.D., lead author and professor at the Division of Neuroscience at the Oregon Primates Research Center (OHSU). . "The ability to easily map connections in the living brain with great precision opens the door to other applications in medicine and engineering."

Roe led an international team of researchers in the United States and China. Roe divides her time between her laboratory at OHSU, Portland, Oregon, and Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou, China, where she directs the Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience and Technology.

The researchers inserted a 200 micron optical fiber into the research animals' brains, in this case cats and monkeys in Zhejiang and Vanderbilt, respectively, and stimulated specific areas of the brain. They were then able to visualize the series of cascade connections via ultra high field MRIs measuring blood oxygen levels in various areas.

Traditionally, researchers have mapped these types of connections in the brain through a laborious process of injecting dyes directly into the brain and reconstructing post-mortem connections.

"It's a very slow, expensive and time-consuming process," she said.

The new technique paves the way for a systematic and large-scale study of connection patterns in isolated individuals, repeatedly and effectively. It also allows researchers to determine the direction in which information flows in the brain, which is essential for understanding information processing in the brain.

Roe said that she thought that this technique would greatly increase the ability of scientists to understand the brain and could accelerate the development of artificial intelligence and technologies using a brain-machine interface.

"If we can understand the patterns of organization in the brain, this could lead to some understanding of the general rules of connectivity," she said.