The dream of a neuroscientist is to have an accurare representation of the human brain and now we are closer than ever to that ideal with BigBrain, a digital reconstruction of the human brain full 3D and ultra-high resolution. BigBrain is the essential tool neurological laboratories worldwide need in order to elucidate the form and function of our brains.
Processing the brain layers - Amunts, Zilles, Evan et al (Science)
It is true that there are currently other brain atlas, but they only arrive at the macroscopic level, or visible. Its resolution only reaches the level of a cubic millimeter, and in that volume of brain, 1,000 neurons can easily fit. The new BigBrain offers a resolution very close to cellular dimension, according to scientists who have created it. That means you get to discriminate each small circuit of neurons that is behind our mental activity, which may include all available information on the brain, from genes and neurotransmitter receptors to cognition and behavior.
To construct BigBrain, researchers have taken samples from a patient 7400. The reference brain is based on a woman who died at age 65, which was sliced in 7,400 histological sections of just 20 microns. The BigBrain, according to its creators, opens the way for understanding the neurobiological basis of cognition, language and emotion, and also to investigate neurological diseases and develop drugs against them. The model is presented in Science and will be available for registered users at http://bigbrain.cbrain.mcgill.ca.
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