The Nature publishes the great progress of neurology

Even the simplest neural network in brain is made up of millions of connections, exploring the huge network is vital to understand the operation mechanism of brain.

An international team led by R. Clay Reid、Wei Chung Allen Lee and Vincent Bonin from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Harvard Medical School and neurological research center Electronics Flanders (NERF) of R. Clay Reid released the largest cerebral cortex neurons connected network by far, revealing several key factors related to the mechanism of brain network organization. Their findings are published in the journal Nature March 28th.

Dr. R. Clay Reid, who a senior researchers at Allen Institute for Brain Science, said, "This is a climax of nearly a decade ago to start a research project. Network brain too big and too complex to understand cannot be fragmented, so we took advantage of some of the high-pass technology to collect the amount of brain activity and brain wiring large data sets. We found that the effort is definitely worth it, and we are learning a wealth of information about the network structure of the brain and ultimately how brain structure and function associated."

The main author of the paper, neural biology instructor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Wei-Chung Lee said, "Although the study is always worked in a substantive chapters landmark, this is just the beginning. By discovering the circuit wiring and neurons the relationship between network computing, we now have the tools to begin to reverse-engineer the brain."

Flanders Neurological Research Center electronic project leader Vincent Bonin said, "For decades, researchers have been studying the brain activity in isolation and wiring. We have achieved is unprecedented detail for both areas to bridge the electrical activity of nerve synapses with each other nanoscale connection between the link."

Lee added, "We have discovered the first evidence of anatomical structure of the module, as well as the structural basis of the function-specific connection between neurons in the cerebral cortex of the network. Our approach allows us to define the organizational principles of neural circuits. We is now ready to discover the cerebral cortex connection motif (motif), they are likely to be the basic building blocks of the network functions of the cerebral cortex."

Lee and Bonin first identified in response to specific visual stimuli in the mouse visual cortex, such as bars or bars on the screen neurons. Lee then made thin brain slices, captured these cells and synapses millions of detailed images of the target, followed by a three-dimensional reconstruction. American commentators on both coasts at the same time the team through some 3D images to track a single neuron, and locate the connection between individual neurons.

Analysis of this wealth of data generated some results, including the structure of the first direct evidence to support this view: perform similar tasks to perform different tasks than neurons neurons are more likely to connect with each other. And while tangled with completely different functions to perform many other neurons, these connections greater.

Reid said, "This unique study is part of a combination of functional imaging and detailed microscopy. These microdata reached an unprecedented scale and detail. We first learned about the specific function of neurons get some very powerful knowledge then observe how it is similar or different work to complete the connection of neurons."

Reid said, "It's like a symphony orchestra musicians seated randomly. If you just listen to some of the musicians neighborhood, it does not make sense. By listening to everyone, you will understand music; it actually becomes much easier. If you then go to inquiry every musician who he listen to, perhaps you can even figure out how they are creating music. There is no conductor here, so orchestra needs to communicate."

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