Digital 3D brain cell atlas released

Neuroscientists roll out first comprehensive atlas of brain cells BRAIN initiative consortium takes census of motor cortex cells in mice, marmoset and humans When you clicked to read this story, a band of cells across the top of your brain sent signals down your spine and out to your hand to tell the muscles in your index finger to press down with just the right amount of pressure to activate your mouse or track pad. “If you think of the brain as an extremely complex machine, how could we understand it without first breaking it down and knowing the parts?” asked cellular neuroscientist Helen Bateup, a University of California, Berkeley, associate professor of molecular and cell biology and co-author of the flagship paper that synthesizes the results of the other papers. “The first page of any manual of how the brain works should read: Here are all the cellular components, this is how many of them there are, here is where they are located and who they connect to.” While researchers have discovered numerous cell types in the brain, this atlas of all cell types in one area — the primary motor cortex — is the first comprehensive list and a starting point for tracing cellular networks to understand how they control our body and mind and how they are disrupted in mental and physical disorders. Learn More: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211006112554.htm