Shining a Light (Microscope) Onto the Brain's Connections

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course Mapping Brain Circuitry with a Light Microscope, by Pavel Osten MD, PhD and Troy W. Margrie, PhD. Short Courses are daylong scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held the day before SfN’s annual meeting.

Since the days of Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón Y Cajal, light microscopes have provided neuroscientists a glimpse into the anatomy of the brain. Advances in the microscopes themselves and methods to stain and trace neurons have revealed various pathways and structures, as well as organization and hierarchies specific to certain brain regions. Three large projects (the Mouse Brain Architecture Project, the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas, and the Mouse Connectome Project) are currently attempting to take our knowledge to another level, by mapping all the connections within the brain. Together with new technologies, these projects are helping bring the possibility of a complete map of the mouse brain within reach.