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Scientists have mapped areas of the brain linked to Alzheimer's disease to deliver genetically targeted drugs to specific neurons …
To cure some of the most difficult diseases, you must first navigate the world's most complex structure, the human brain. Scientists from the University of Southern California have created the most detailed atlas of the brain memory bank.
Cartographers of the skull, a team of USC researchers has illustrated in detail the internal circuits of the hippocampus, which would be the pride of the great cartographer of the ancient, Ptolemy. Using fluorescent tracers and 3D animations, scientists present the details of structures, nerve connections and functions. The study appears today in the newspaper Nature Neuroscience.
USC scientists have produced the most detailed atlas of the hippocampus, its functions and structures. They use a mouse brain as a matrix to help find treatments for human diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Credit: Tyler Ard, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute.
"As a new atlas, we have constructed the most detailed schematic of the hippocampus to date," said Dr. Michael S. Bienkowski, lead author of the study and researcher at the Institute. Neuroimaging and Computer Science at the Keck School of Medicine. from USC. "With a better map, we can see each region and how it works. A better map is a resource that scientists can use to better understand the hippocampus and how its degeneration causes disease. "
The human hippocampus is at the base of the brain and is shaped like a hippocampus. It stores memories, helps regulate emotions and guides navigation by spatial processing. This is the first part of the brain altered by Alzheimer's disease and the degeneration of the hippocampus can cause epilepsy and other diseases.
In this case, the scientists worked on a mouse brain, because it is organized in the same way as a human brain. Scientists can use the new map of the hippocampus to administer genetically targeted drugs to specific neurons producing fewer side effects, said lead author Dr. Hong-Wei Dong, a professor of neurology at the USC and director of the USC's Integrated Connectivity Center (USC).
The work is part of the Mouse Connectome project, led by USC, which collects a lot of data on neural connections in the brain and shares it publicly with researchers from more than 100 countries. Brain disconnection is the cause of Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorders and many other diseases.
Scientists have long known the basic architecture of the hippocampus in four parts. What is different now is that USC scientists can show their subregions and how nerve cells interact across the structure. It's a difference day and night, which is like seeing transmission lines and electricity poles hung in a city by day rather than fully lit up at night. This new visualization traces neural pathways and connections with remarkable accuracy using fluorescent dyes as tracers that reveal cells, neuronal junctions and connections to the rest of the brain.
"This totally changes our understanding by combining a wiring diagram with the gene expression of the mouse hippocampus. We see it doing different things and it gives us a new way of understanding how it all works together. This should have a very profound and broad impact, "said Dr. Bienkowski.
According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the elderly and the leading cause of dementia in the United States. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it records 93,500 deaths every year across the country. Its prevalence and rate increase with the aging of the population.
The USC Mouse Connectome Project is part of a larger effort funded by the National Institutes of Health to map all brain connections to understand how different structures network to regulate behavior. Dong's research focuses on how to classify neurons based on genetics and connectivity, information that could help other researchers develop strategies to target neurons to treat diseases in humans. This work parallels a Human Connectome project, involving 100 researchers from leading research institutes and which has $ 40 million from the National Institutes of Health, which maps brain connections to humans .
The human brain contains about 100 billion neurons, each with about 10,000 connections. Mapping this network is therefore a major challenge that involves many scientists. USC's contribution is helping to advance broader efforts by starting with a simpler task such as mouse hippocampus research.
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