New 3-D imaging technique can reveal, much more quickly than other methods, how neurons connect throughout the brain.

Researchers have developed a new way to image the brain with unprecedented resolution and speed. Using this approach, they can locate individual neurons, trace connections between them, and visualize organelles inside neurons, over large volumes of brain tissue.

The new technology combines a method for expanding brain tissue, making it possible to image at higher resolution, with a rapid 3-D microscopy technique known as lattice light-sheet microscopy.

http://news.mit.edu/2019/mapping-brain-high-resolution-0117

https://scsb.mit.edu/2019/01/18/mapping-the-brain-at-high-resolution/

Individually traced dopaminergic neurons in the right hemisphere of a fruit fly brain, innervating the fan-shaped body (green), ellipsoid body (magenta), and noduli (green).
Image: Courtesy of the researchers.

A subset of pyramidal neurons (orange) in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex. The dendritic spines associated with the postsynaptic protein Homer1 are highlighted in yellow.
Image: Courtesy of the researchers.

Dopaminergic neurons in the ellipsoid body of a fruit fly brain, color-coded by 3D depth.
Image: Courtesy of the researchers.

A subset of pyramidal neurons (yellow), and pairs of presynaptic (cyan) and postsynaptic (magenta) proteins associated with the neurons in the mouse primary somatosensory cortex.
Image: Courtesy of the researchers.