マウス脳における視覚知覚の接続を詳細にマッピング(Scientists map unprecedented detail of connections and visual perception in the mouse brain)

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2025-04-09 アメリカ国立衛生研究所(NIH)

NIH資金により進められた「MICRONS」プロジェクトで、研究者らはマウス脳における視覚情報処理に関わる脳神経の詳細な接続と反応パターンを前例のない精度でマッピングしました。わずか1立方ミリメートルの脳組織において、20万以上の神経細胞が5億2400万以上のシナプスを通じて接続され、約4kmの軸索が絡み合っています。研究では光反応性遺伝子改変マウスに動画を提示し、電子顕微鏡で脳組織の超薄切片28,000枚を撮影・再構築。深層学習と手動での校正を通じて神経回路を解明し、視覚皮質での情報処理を説明する予測モデルも構築されました。この成果は脳の正常機能と疾患解明に貢献すると期待されます。

<関連情報>

マウス視覚野の複数の領域にまたがる機能的コネクトミクス Functional connectomics spanning multiple areas of mouse visual cortex

The MICrONS Consortium
Nature  Published:09 April 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08790-w

マウス脳における視覚知覚の接続を詳細にマッピング(Scientists map unprecedented detail of connections and visual perception in the mouse brain)

Abstract

Understanding the brain requires understanding neurons’ functional responses to the circuit architecture shaping them. Here we introduce the MICrONS functional connectomics dataset with dense calcium imaging of around 75,000 neurons in primary visual cortex (VISp) and higher visual areas (VISrl, VISal and VISlm) in an awake mouse that is viewing natural and synthetic stimuli. These data are co-registered with an electron microscopy reconstruction containing more than 200,000 cells and 0.5 billion synapses. Proofreading of a subset of neurons yielded reconstructions that include complete dendritic trees as well the local and inter-areal axonal projections that map up to thousands of cell-to-cell connections per neuron. Released as an open-access resource, this dataset includes the tools for data retrieval and analysis. Accompanying studies describe its use for comprehensive characterization of cell types, a synaptic level connectivity diagram of a cortical column, and uncovering cell-type-specific inhibitory connectivity that can be linked to gene expression data. Functionally, we identify new computational principles of how information is integrated across visual space, characterize novel types of neuronal invariances and bring structure and function together to uncover a general principle for connectivity between excitatory neurons within and across areas.

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