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Brain mapping helps scientists understand how specific areas work and create new drugs and targeted treatmentsCredit: Tyler Ard, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Institute of Neuroimaging and Computer Science
USC scientists have created the most detailed atlas of the hippocampus, the brain memory bank.
Using fluorescent tracers and 3D animation, scientists show structures, nerve connections and functions in great detail. The study appears today in the newspaper Nature Neuroscience.
"Like a new atlas, we have constructed the most detailed diagram of the hippocampus to date," said Michael S. Bienkowski, lead author of the study and researcher at USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. "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 located at the base of the brain. 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; The degeneration of the hippocampus can also cause epilepsy and other diseases.
The research behind the new USC brain map
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 Hong-Wei Dong, a professor of neurology at the University of Hawaii. USC and director of the Center for Integrated Connectomics of the USC.
The work is part of the Mouse Connectome project, led by USC, which collects data on neural connections in the brain and shares it publicly with researchers from more than 100 countries. Brain disconnections underlie Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorders and 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," Bienkowski said. "We see different things, which gives us a new way of understanding how it all works together. This should have a very profound and wide impact. "
Alzheimer's and dementia
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, with $ 40 million coming from the NIH, 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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