The anatomical problem posed by brain complexity and size: a potential solution

Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
Javier DeFelipe

Abstract

Over the years the field of neuroanatomy has evolved considerably but unraveling the extraordinary structural and functional complexity of the brain seems to be an unattainable goal, partly due to the fact that it is only possible to obtain an imprecise connection matrix of the brain. The reasons why reaching such a goal appears almost impossible to date is discussed here, together with suggestions of how we could overcome this anatomical problem by establishing new methodologies to study the brain and by promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. Generating a realistic computational model seems to be the solution rather than attempting to fully reconstruct the whole brain or a particular brain region.

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Citations

Jul 22, 2017·NeuroImage·Kathleen S Rockland
Jun 16, 2018·History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences·Alessio Plebe
Nov 25, 2016·Frontiers in Neuroanatomy·J Leonie CazemierPaul H E Tiesinga
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Jul 12, 2019·Frontiers in Neuroscience·Evelyn ChukwurahSofia B Lizarraga
May 28, 2019·Frontiers in Neuroinformatics·Xue Fan, Henry Markram
Mar 23, 2017·Frontiers in Neuroanatomy·Jennifer I Luebke
May 1, 2020·Frontiers in Neuroscience·Ben LongXiangning Li
Sep 6, 2020·Cerebral Cortex·M Domínguez-ÁlvaroL Alonso-Nanclares
Oct 7, 2020·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·Polyxeni NikolakopoulouAnna Herland
Jul 6, 2019·ACS Chemical Neuroscience·Damien DepannemaeckerJean Rinkel
May 18, 2021·Cerebral Cortex·Nicolás Cano-AstorgaLidia Alonso-Nanclares

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
electron microscopy
scanning electron microscopy
light microscopy
confocal microscopy

Software Mentioned

Sy
Org
so
BAMS2 Workspace
NeuroMorpho

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