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A Proposal for a Coordinated Effort for the Determination of Brainwide Neuroanatomical Connectivity in Model Organisms at a Mesoscopic Scale

2009; Public Library of Science; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000334

1553-7358

Jason W. Bohland, Caizhi Wu, Helen Barbas, Hemant Bokil, Mihail Bota, Hans C. Breiter, Hollis T. Cline, John C. Doyle, Peter Freed, Ralph J. Greenspan, Suzanne N. Haber, Michael Hawrylycz, Daniel G. Herrera, Claus C. Hilgetag, Z. Josh Huang, Allan R. Jones, Edward G. Jones, Harvey J. Karten, David Kleinfeld, Rolf Kötter, Henry A. Lester, John M. Lin, Brett D. Mensh, Shawn Mikula, Jaak Panksepp, Joseph L. Price, Joseph E. Safdieh, Clifford B. Saper, Nicholas D. Schiff, Jeremy D. Schmahmann, Bruce Stillman, Karel Svoboda, Larry W. Swanson, Arthur W. Toga, David C. Van Essen, James D. Watson, Partha P. Mitra,

Neuroscience and Neural Engineering

In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is however critical both for basic and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive, brain-wide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brain-wide coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for standardization and automation; centralized, open access data repository; compatibility with existing resources, and tractability with current informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse, additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five years with a comparatively modest budget.