Generation of an interactive online atlas of developmental neuroanatomy of the zebrafish brain

为了使大脑正常运作，在胚胎发育期间需要以高度协调的方式发生许多高度复杂的事件。神经细胞或神经元需要在正确的位置产生，具有正确的身份和正确的数量。这些神经元必须与通常位于中枢神经系统遥远区域的其他神经元建立联系。不知何故，所有这些事件都精确无误地发生，大脑能够处理感觉输入和直接运动输出。研究人员的一个主要目标是了解神经元在调节行为的回路中是如何连接的。考虑到成人大脑中有数十亿个神经元，用现有的技术，这是一项不可能完成的任务。然而，在更简单的模型系统中，更可行的方法是尝试描述神经元的全部功能及其连接，以此作为理解神经元如何在神经回路中起作用和在神经系统疾病中发生故障的前奏。在这个项目中，我们将使用高分辨率成像技术来检查和记录斑马鱼大脑发育最初几天的神经元及其连接。这是一个非常及时的项目，因为最近已经产生了数千个离散的鱼类种群，其中大脑中不同的神经元子集被专门标记。再加上其他方法，如在完整的大脑中标记单个神经元，对这些细胞系的分析将使我们能够构建任何脊椎动物发育神经解剖学和连通性的最高分辨率图谱。该图谱将以用户友好的基于网络的数据库的形式提供给社区，使用户可以在大脑中导航，锁定主要感兴趣的结构。该数据库将包含文本、图像和一些电影，所有这些都旨在展示当前关于特定神经结构的全部知识。该地图集将是同类资源中的主要资源，我们预计它将在整个国际科学界得到广泛使用。我们还将保留许多在大脑中标记神经元子集的鱼线，因为这些将成为社区神经科学研究的优秀资源。

For the brain to properly function, many highly complex events need to occur in a highly coordinated way during embryonic development. Nerve cells, or neurons, need to be generated in the correct locations with the correct identities and in the correct numbers. The neurons must establish connections with other neurons often located in far distant regions of the central nervous system. Somehow, all these events occur with precision and accuracy and the brain is able to process sensory input and direct motor output. One major goal for researchers is to understand how neurons are connected in the circuits that regulate behaviours. Given the billions of neurons in the adult human brain, this is an impossible task with currently available technologies. However, in simpler model systems, it is more feasible to attempt to describe the full repertoire of neurons and their connections as a prelude to understanding how the neurons function in neural circuits and malfunction in neurological conditions. In this project, we will use high resolution imaging techniques to examine and document the repertoire of neurons and their connections in the developing zebrafish brain over the first few days of development. This is a very timely project as thousands of discrete populations of fish in which different subsets of neurons in the brain are specifically labelled have recently been generated. Together with other approaches such as labelling individual neurons in the intact brain, analysis of these lines will allow us to construct the highest resolution atlas of developmental neuroanatomy and connectivity in any vertebrate animal. This atlas will be available to the community in the form of a user-friendly web-based database that will allow the user to navigate around the brain, homing in on structures of primary interest. The database will house text, images and some movies, all aimed at presenting the full extent of current knowledge about the specific neural structures. The atlas will be the leading resource of its kind and we anticipate that it will be very widely used throughout the international scientific community. We will also maintain many of the fish lines with subsets of neurons labelled in the brain as these will be an excellent resource for neuroscience research in the community.