Proceedings of the Workshop 'Neuroanatomical Tracing and Systems Neuroscience: The State of the Art', 7th FENS Meeting, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 3,2010

摘要

In the run-up to the 7th FENS meeting we realized ourselves that in spite of the enormous advances in various fields of neuroscience the perennial question remains how the brain is structurally organized. Most of the recent findings in neurophysiology, receptor mapping, proteomics, metabolomics and neurogenetics need somehow be matched with structural data and associated with the details of gross anatomical connectivity and networks of neurons, that is the anatomical picture. This matching validates basic neuroanatomical tract-tracing methods that all together represent a wide range of procedures aimed at unraveling brain circuits, a technical choice that is still maintaining a broad acceptance in the field of modern Neuroscience. In parallel with what seems to be happening everywhere in neuroscience, advances in techniques, instrumentation and analysis tools continuously refine the detail in which connectivity between neurons can be mapped. In this regard, moving from the single cell level upwards to systems neuroscience and the 'connectome' currently represents a more feasible choice than ever before.