Neuroanatomy and transgenic technologies

Alexander C Jackson,Makoto Fukuda,Laurent Gautron,Chen Liu,Michael Lazarus

doi:10.3389/fnana.2014.00157

Abstract

Neuroanatomy and transgenic technologies

Highlights

Gerald Edelman once wrote: “If someone held a gun to my head and threatened oblivion if I did not identify the single word most significant for understanding the brain, I would say ‘neuroanatomy.’ perhaps the most important general observation that can be made about the brain is that its anatomy is the most important thing about it” (Edelman and Tononi, 2000)
We will be focusing on the application of transgenic technology to neuroanatomical questions and have collected up-to-date reviews and original articles that demonstrate the versatility and power of transgenic tools in advancing our knowledge of the nervous system
In addition to its utility in tagging and tracing targeted neuronal populations, transgenic technology can be applied to the study of morphological and neurochemical changes occurring in the brains of animals lacking a specific gene

Summary

Introduction

Gerald Edelman once wrote: “If someone held a gun to my head and threatened oblivion if I did not identify the single word most significant for understanding the brain, I would say ‘neuroanatomy.’ perhaps the most important general observation that can be made about the brain is that its anatomy is the most important thing about it” (Edelman and Tononi, 2000). Neuroscientists increasingly rely on techniques enabling them to manipulate genes in defined cell populations in the brain. Engineered transgenes, which encode a variety of fluorescent reporter proteins, can be inserted into the genome or delivered into desired brain regions using viral vectors, thereby allowing the labeling of molecularly-defined populations of neurons or glial cells (Callaway, 2005).

Results

Conclusion