Visualisation of functionally activated circuitry in the brain

我们正在寻求一种方法来精确地确定大脑的哪些部分参与了不同的大脑功能的执行。我们的新方法的主要优点是，我们将能够直接可视化涉及特定大脑功能的电路。大脑就像一台巨大的计算机，在不同的部分之间有数十亿的连接，正是这些连接形成了功能电路，最终导致大脑控制身体功能。到目前为止，还没有直接的方法能够直接可视化这数十亿连接中的哪一个参与了任何特定大脑功能回路的形成。我们计划使用遗传方法来帮助可视化功能激活的大脑回路。我们知道神经细胞中的一些基因在大脑功能中被激活。我们将利用这些知识来培育一种新的基因工程小鼠。在这些老鼠身上，在大脑激活过程中被激活的基因将反过来被用来激活特殊的标记物，这些标记物将点亮被激活的回路。这将对我们理解大脑功能具有重要意义。它还应该帮助我们了解这些回路在不同的大脑疾病中发生了什么，比如中风、衰老和阿尔茨海默病。

We are seeking to develop a method to precisely determine which parts of the brain are involved in the carrying out of different brain functions. The main advantage of our new method will be that we will be able to directly visualise the circuitry involved in a specified brain function. The brain is like a vast computer, with literally billions of connections between different parts, and it is these connections which are used to form functional circuits, which ultimately result in the brain control of bodily function. Up until now, there has been no direct way of being able to directly visualise which of those billions of connections are involved in the formation of a circuit for any particular brain function. We plan to use a genetic approach to help to visualise functionally activated brain circuits. We know that some genes are turned on in the nerve cells which are activated during a brain function. We will use this knowledge to generate a new line of genetically engineered mice. In these mice, the genes which are turned on during brain activation will in turn be used to turn on special markers which will light up the activated circuits. This will be of great signficance in our understanding of brain function. It should also help us to understand what happens to these circuits in different diseases of the brain, such as following stroke, in senility, and Alzheimer's disease.