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A technicolour approach to the connectome

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 9, pages417–422(2008)Cite this article

Abstract

A central aim of neuroscience is to map neural circuits, in order to learn how they account for mental activities and behaviours and how alterations in them lead to neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the methods that are currently available for visualizing circuits have severe limitations that make it extremely difficult to extract precise wiring diagrams from histological images. Here we review recent advances in this area, along with some of the opportunities that these advances present and the obstacles that remain.

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Figure 1: Circuit-mapping strategies.
Figure 2: Combinatorial expression of three distinct fluorescent proteins can generate a large spectrum of colours.
Figure 3: Multicolour neuronal labelling in Brainbow transgenic mice.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Jeff W. Lichtman and Joshua R. Sanes are at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.

    Jeff W. Lichtman & Joshua R. Sanes

  2. Jean Livet is at INSERM, UMR S592, Institut de la Vision, F-75012, Paris, France and at UPMC University of Paris 06, UMR S592, F-75005, Paris, France.

    Jean Livet

Authors
  1. Jeff W. Lichtman
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  2. Jean Livet
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  3. Joshua R. Sanes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeff W. Lichtman.

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Lichtman, J., Livet, J. & Sanes, J. A technicolour approach to the connectome. Nat Rev Neurosci 9, 417–422 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2391

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