抑制性神经元回路 z-bio 2021-02-16 302

　　How to build a neural network that is more complex than anything currently known? In a new study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Germany mapped out the developmental map of inhibitory neuronal circuits and reported the discovery of a unique circuit formation principle. Their discovery allows scientists to monitor changes in the structure of the neuron network over time to capture the moment when individuals grow and adapt to the environment.

　　Scientists are beginning to better understand the complexity of neuronal networks found in our and animal brains. But how was such a precise and intricate neuronal circuit established in the first place? We know how neurons are born, how to get to their positions in gray matter, how to grow and differentiate. However, trillions of synapses---neurons "talk to each other" through these complex contact points--usually unfold in highly precise locations to form the network of our brain. How and according to what rules do they unfold?

　　In this study, Moritz Helmstaedter, the corresponding author of the paper and director of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, and his research team analyzed 13 three-dimensional data sets from the cortex of mice, which are at different stages of development: Later, the time point corresponding to human infants, children, adolescents and youth. They used a method called "connectomics" to map out neuronal circuits found in the gray matter of the cerebral cortex, most of which are found in the cerebral cortex gray matter. By focusing on the synapses of a class of nerve cells called interneurons, they were able to track the development of these specific types of nerve cells to select synaptic partners. It is well known that interneurons inhibit the activity of other neurons in a highly specific way.