Brain mapping explained

Brain mapping

Brain mapping is a set of neuroscience techniques predicated on the mapping of (biological) quantities or properties onto spatial representations of the (human or non-human) brain resulting in maps.

According to the definition established in 2013 by Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT), brain mapping is specifically defined, in summary, as the study of the anatomy and function of the brain and spinal cord through the use of imaging, immunohistochemistry, molecular & optogenetics, stem cell and cellular biology, engineering, neurophysiology and nanotechnology.

Overview

All neuroimaging is considered part of brain mapping. Brain mapping can be conceived as a higher form of neuroimaging, producing brain images supplemented by the result of additional (imaging or non-imaging) data processing or analysis, such as maps projecting (measures of) behavior onto brain regions (see fMRI). One such map, called a connectogram, depicts cortical regions around a circle, organized by lobes. Concentric circles within the ring represent various common neurological measurements, such as cortical thickness or curvature. In the center of the circles, lines representing white matter fibers illustrate the connections between cortical regions, weighted by fractional anisotropy and strength of connection.[1] At higher resolutions brain maps are called connectomes. These maps incorporate individual neural connections in the brain and are often presented as wiring diagrams.[2]

Brain mapping techniques are constantly evolving, and rely on the development and refinement of image acquisition, representation, analysis, visualization and interpretation techniques.[3] Functional and structural neuroimaging are at the core of the mapping aspect of brain mapping.

Some scientists have criticized the brain image-based claims made in scientific journals and the popular press, like the discovery of "the part of the brain responsible" things like love or musical abilities or a specific memory. Many mapping techniques have a relatively low resolution, including hundreds of thousands of neurons in a single voxel. Many functions also involve multiple parts of the brain, meaning that this type of claim is probably both unverifiable with the equipment used, and generally based on an incorrect assumption about how brain functions are divided. It may be that most brain functions will only be described correctly after being measured with much more fine-grained measurements that look not at large regions but instead at a very large number of tiny individual brain circuits. Many of these studies also have technical problems like small sample size or poor equipment calibration which means they cannot be reproduced - considerations which are sometimes ignored to produce a sensational journal article or news headline. In some cases the brain mapping techniques are used for commercial purposes, lie detection, or medical diagnosis in ways which have not been scientifically validated.[4]

History

In the late 1980s in the United States, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science was commissioned to establish a panel to investigate the value of integrating neuroscientific information across a variety of techniques.[5]

Of specific interest is using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion MRI (dMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and other non-invasive scanning techniques to map anatomy, physiology, perfusion, function and phenotypes of the human brain. Both healthy and diseased brains may be mapped to study memory, learning, aging, and drug effects in various populations such as people with schizophrenia, autism, and clinical depression. This led to the establishment of the Human Brain Project.[6] It may also be crucial to understanding traumatic brain injuries (as in the case of Phineas Gage)[7] and improving brain injury treatment.[8] [9]

Following a series of meetings, the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) evolved.[10] The ultimate goal is to develop flexible computational brain atlases.

Achievements

See also: List of neuroscience databases. The interactive and citizen science website Eyewire maps mices' retinal cells and was launched in 2012. In 2021, the most comprehensive 3D map of the human brain was published by researchers at Google. It shows neurons and their connections along with blood vessels and other components of a millionth of a brain. For the map, the 1 mm³ sized fragment was sliced into about 5,300 pieces of about 30 nanometer thickness which were then each scanned with an electron microscope. The interactive map required 1.4 petabytes of storage-space.[11] [12] About two months later, scientists reported that they created the first complete neuron-level-resolution 3D map of a monkey brain which they scanned via a new method within 100 hours. They made only a fraction of the 3D map publicly available as the entire map takes more than 1 petabyte of storage space even when compressed.[13] [14]

In October 2021, the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN) concluded the first phase of a long-term project to generate an atlas of the entire mouse (mammalian) brain with 17 studies, including an atlas and census of cell types in the primary motor cortex.[15] [16] [17]

Brain development

See also: Development of the nervous system in humans. In 2021, the first connectome that shows how an animal's brain changes throughout its lifetime was reported. Scientists mapped and compared the whole brains of eight isogenic C. elegans worms, each at a different stage of development.[18] [19] Later that year, scientists combined electron microscopy and brainbow imaging to show for the first time the development of a mammalian neural circuit. They reported the complete wiring diagrams between the CNS and muscles of ten individual mice.[20]

Vision

In August 2021, scientists of the MICrONS program, launched in 2016,[21] published a functional connectomics dataset that "contains calcium imaging of an estimated 75,000 neurons from primary visual cortex (VISp) and three higher visual areas (VISrl, VISal and VISlm), that were recorded while a mouse viewed natural movies and parametric stimuli".[22] [23] Based on this data they also published "interactive visualizations of anatomical and functional data that span all 6 layers of mouse primary visual cortex and 3 higher visual areas (LM, AL, RL) within a cubic millimeter volume" – the MICrONS Explorer.[24]

Brain regeneration

In 2022, a first spatiotemporal cellular atlas of the axolotl brain development and regeneration, the interactive Axolotl Regenerative Telencephalon Interpretation via Spatiotemporal Transcriptomic Atlas , revealed key insights about axolotl brain regeneration.[25] [26]

Current atlas tools

Full Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (SBMT) definition

Brain mapping is the study of the anatomy and function of the brain and spinal cord through the use of imaging (including intra-operative, microscopic, endoscopic and multi-modality imaging), immunohistochemistry, molecular & optogenetics, stem cell and cellular biology, engineering (material, electrical and biomedical), neurophysiology, and nanotechnology.

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.01.107 . Circular representation of human cortical networks for subject and population-level connectomic visualization . 2012 . Irimia . Andrei . Chambers . Micah C. . Torgerson . Carinna M. . Horn . John D. . NeuroImage . 60 . 2 . 1340–51 . 22305988 . 3594415.
  2. Shi. Y. May 2017. Connectome imaging for mapping human brain pathways. Nature. 22. 9. 1230–1240. 10.1038/mp.2017.92. 28461700. 5568931. free.
  3. Sood. S. Alqatan. Z. Klingert. C. Ratnam. D. Hayakawa. A. Nakai. Y. Luat. AF. Agarwal. R. Rothermel. R. Asano. E. 2018. Presurgical language mapping using event-related high-gamma activity: The Detroit procedure. Clin Neurophysiol. 129. 1. 145–154. 10.1016/j.clinph.2017.10.018. 29190521. 5744878. Kambara. T.
  4. Book: Satel. Sally L.. Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience. Lilienfeld. Scott O.. Basic Books (Perseus Book Group). 2015. 978-0-465-06291-1. New York.
  5. Book: Pechura. Constance M.. Mapping the Brain and Its Functions: Integrating Enabling Technologies Into Neuroscience Research. Martin. Joseph B.. Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on a National Neural Circuitry Database. 1991. 978-0-309-04497-4. 10.17226/1816. 25121208. free.
  6. Book: Neuroinformatics: An Overview of the Human Brain Project. L. Eribaum. 1997. 978-1-134-79842-1. Koslow. Stephen H.. Mahwah, New Jersey. Huerta. Michael F..
  7. 10.1371/journal.pone.0037454 . Mapping Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage . 2012 . Sporns . Olaf . Van Horn . John Darrell . Irimia . Andrei . Torgerson . Carinna M. . Chambers . Micah C. . Kikinis . Ron . Toga . Arthur W. . PLOS ONE . 7 . 5 . e37454 . 22616011 . 3353935. 2012PLoSO...737454V . free .
  8. 10.3389/fneur.2012.00010 . Patient-Tailored Connectomics Visualization for the Assessment of White Matter Atrophy in Traumatic Brain Injury . 2012 . Irimia . Andrei . Chambers . Micah C. . Torgerson . Carinna M. . Filippou . Maria . Hovda . David A. . Alger . Jeffry R. . Gerig . Guido . Toga . Arthur W. . Vespa . Paul M. . Kikinis . Ron . Van Horn . John D. . Frontiers in Neurology . 3 . 10 . 22363313 . 3275792. free .
  9. Book: Mohan . Mohind C . A Gene Map of Brain Injury Disorders . 15 March 2021 . Academic Press . 978-0-12-821974-4 . 123–134 . 1 .
  10. Book: Brain Mapping: The Methods. Academic Press (Elsevier Science). 2002. 978-0-12-693019-1. Toga. Arthur W.. 1. Mazziotta. John C..
  11. News: Google and Harvard map brain connections in unprecedented detail . 13 June 2021 . New Atlas . 2021-06-02.
  12. Shapson-Coe . Alexander . Januszewski . Michał . Berger . Daniel R. . Pope . Art . Wu . Yuelong . Blakely . Tim . Schalek . Richard L. . Li . Peter . Wang . Shuohong . Maitin-Shepard . Jeremy . Karlupia . Neha . Dorkenwald . Sven . Sjostedt . Evelina . Leavitt . Laramie . Lee . Dongil . Bailey . Luke . Fitzmaurice . Angerica . Kar . Rohin . Field . Benjamin . Wu . Hank . Wagner-Carena . Julian . Aley . David . Lau . Joanna . Lin . Zudi . Wei . Donglai . Pfister . Hanspeter . Peleg . Adi . Jain . Viren . Lichtman . Jeff W. . A connectomic study of a petascale fragment of human cerebral cortex . bioRxiv . 13 June 2021 . 2021.05.29.446289 . en . 10.1101/2021.05.29.446289 . 2021-05-30. 235270687 .
  13. News: Chinese team hopes high-res image of monkey brain will unlock secrets . 13 August 2021 . South China Morning Post . 1 August 2021 . en.
  14. Xu . Fang . Shen . Yan . Ding . Lufeng . Yang . Chao-Yu . Tan . Heng . Wang . Hao . Zhu . Qingyuan . Xu . Rui . Wu . Fengyi . Xiao . Yanyang . Xu . Cheng . Li . Qianwei . Su . Peng . Zhang . Li I. . Dong . Hong-Wei . Desimone . Robert . Xu . Fuqiang . Hu . Xintian . Lau . Pak-Ming . Bi . Guo-Qiang . High-throughput mapping of a whole rhesus monkey brain at micrometer resolution . Nature Biotechnology . 26 July 2021 . 39 . 12 . 1521–1528 . 10.1038/s41587-021-00986-5 . 34312500 . 236453498 . en . 1546-1696.
  15. News: Neuroscientists roll out first comprehensive atlas of brain cells . 16 November 2021 . . en.
  16. Edward M. Callaway . et al. . A multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex . Nature . October 2021 . 598 . 7879 . 86–102 . 34616075 . 10.1038/s41586-021-03950-0 . 8494634 . en . 1476-4687.
  17. Winnubst . Johan . Arber . Silvia . A census of cell types in the brain's motor cortex . 16 November 2021 . Nature . October 2021 . 598 . 7879 . 33–34 . en . 10.1038/d41586-021-02493-8. 34616052 . 2021Natur.598...33W . 238422012 .
  18. News: Why a tiny worm's brain development could shed light on human thinking . 21 September 2021 . phys.org . en.
  19. Witvliet . Daniel . Mulcahy . Ben . Mitchell . James K. . Meirovitch . Yaron . Berger . Daniel R. . Wu . Yuelong . Liu . Yufang . Koh . Wan Xian . Parvathala . Rajeev . Holmyard . Douglas . Schalek . Richard L. . Shavit . Nir . Chisholm . Andrew D. . Lichtman . Jeff W. . Samuel . Aravinthan D. T. . Zhen . Mei . Connectomes across development reveal principles of brain maturation . Nature . August 2021 . 596 . 7871 . 257–261 . 10.1038/s41586-021-03778-8 . 34349261 . 8756380 . 2021Natur.596..257W . en . 1476-4687. 10.1101/2020.04.30.066209v3.
  20. Meirovitch . Yaron . Kang . Kai . Draft . Ryan W. . Pavarino . Elisa C. . Henao E. . Maria F. . Yang . Fuming . Turney . Stephen G. . Berger . Daniel R. . Peleg . Adi . Schalek . Richard L. . Lu . Ju L. . Tapia . Juan-Carlos . Lichtman . Jeff W. . Neuromuscular connectomes across development reveal synaptic ordering rules . bioRxiv . September 2021 . 10.1101/2021.09.20.460480 . en. 237598181.
  21. News: Cepelewicz . Jordana . The U.S. Government Launches a $100-Million "Apollo Project of the Brain" . 22 November 2021 . Scientific American . en.
  22. News: This is a map of half a billion connections in a tiny bit of mouse brain . 22 November 2021 . MIT Technology Review . en.
  23. MICrONS Consortium . Bae . J. Alexander . Baptiste . Mahaly . Bodor . Agnes L. . Brittain . Derrick . Buchanan . JoAnn . Bumbarger . Daniel J. . Castro . Manuel A. . Celii . Brendan . Cobos . Erick . Collman . Forrest . Costa . Nuno Maçarico da . Dorkenwald . Sven . Elabbady . Leila . Fahey . Paul G. . Fliss . Tim . Froudarakis . Emmanouil . Gager . Jay . Gamlin . Clare . Halageri . Akhilesh . Hebditch . James . Jia . Zhen . Jordan . Chris . Kapner . Daniel . Kemnitz . Nico . Kinn . Sam . Koolman . Selden . Kuehner . Kai . Lee . Kisuk . Li . Kai . Lu . Ran . Macrina . Thomas . Mahalingam . Gayathri . McReynolds . Sarah . Miranda . Elanine . Mitchell . Eric . Mondal . Shanka Subhra . Moore . Merlin . Mu . Shang . Muhammad . Taliah . Nehoran . Barak . Ogedengbe . Oluwaseun . Papadopoulos . Christos . Papadopoulos . Stelios . Patel . Saumil . Pitkow . Xaq . Popovych . Sergiy . Ramos . Anthony . Reid . R. Clay . Reimer . Jacob . Schneider-Mizell . Casey M. . Seung . H. Sebastian . Silverman . Ben . Silversmith . William . Sterling . Amy . Sinz . Fabian H. . Smith . Cameron L. . Suckow . Shelby . Takeno . Marc . Tan . Zheng H. . Tolias . Andreas S. . Torres . Russel . Turner . Nicholas L. . Walker . Edgar Y. . Wang . Tianyu . Williams . Grace . Williams . Sarah . Willie . Kyle . Willie . Ryan . Wong . William . Wu . Jingpeng . Xu . Chris . Yang . Runzhe . Yatsenko . Dimitri . Ye . Fei . Yin . Wenjing . Yu . Szi-chieh . Functional connectomics spanning multiple areas of mouse visual cortex . 10.1101/2021.07.28.454025 . en . 9 August 2021.
  24. Web site: Cortical MM^3 . MICrONS Explorer . 22 November 2021.
  25. News: Single-cell Stereo-seq reveals new insights into axolotl brain regeneration . 19 October 2022 . News-Medical.net . 6 September 2022 . en.
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  27. http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html Harvard Whole Brain Atlas
  28. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.09.062 . Construction of a consistent high-definition spatio-temporal atlas of the developing brain using adaptive kernel regression . 2012 . Serag . Ahmed . Aljabar . Paul . Ball . Gareth . Counsell . Serena J. . Boardman . James P. . Rutherford . Mary A. . Edwards . A. David . Hajnal . Joseph V. . Rueckert . Daniel . NeuroImage . 59 . 3 . 2255–65 . 21985910 . 9747334 .
  29. Ahmad S, Wu W, Wu Z, Thung KH, Liu S, Lin W, Li G, Wang L, Yap PT . Multifaceted atlases of the human brain in its infancy . Nature Methods . 20 . 55–64 . 2023 . 1 . 36585454 . 247600108 . 10.1038/s41592-022-01703-z . 9834057 .

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