Research has taken a step forward towards understanding the human brain thanks to a new three-dimensional map called BigBrain. Designed by German and Canadian researchers and unveiled by the American scientific journal Sciencethis map is fifty times more accurate than previous models, with a resolution of 0.02 millimeters.
The researchers worked for five years to arrive at this result. It is the brain of a 65-year-old woman, preserved in a block of paraffin, which has been cut into 7,400 super-thin slices. “The BigBrain Atlas offers near-cellular resolution, i.e., detail close to the cell, a capability that did not previously exist in 3D for the human brain,” says Alan Evans, Neuro researcher, co-founder of the International Brain Mapping Consortium and co-creator of the map.
A spectacular resolution
But the real tour de force was to “assemble the images of the 7400 histological sections, each with its own deformations, into a coherent 3D volume”, adds the researcher. The result is spectacular because thanks to the resolution obtained, it is possible to visualize small bundles of neurons and very fine additions of the brain.
The scientific community has free access to BigBrain on the internet, subject to registration. It now remains to feed the images with various data, the objective being to advance the research.
This new 3D map “can be used to integrate and correlate data from various modalities: for example, genetics, molecular neuroscience, electrophysiology and pharmacology,” says the Montreal Neurological Hospital in a press release. Among other things, “BigBrain will enable and accelerate computer modeling to simulate brain functions in disease.” Not to mention that it will improve neurosurgical procedures.
