Brain/MINDS: brain-mapping project in Japan

There is an emerging interest in brain-mapping projects in countries across the world, including the USA, Europe, Australia and China. In 2014, Japan started a brain-mapping project called Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS). Brain/MINDS aims to map the structure and function of neuronal circuits to ultimately understand the vast complexity of the human brain, and takes advantage of a unique non-human primate animal model, the common marmoset ( Callithrix jacchus ). In Brain/MINDS, the RIKEN Brain Science Institute acts as a central institute. The objectives of Brain/MINDS can be categorized into the following three major subject areas: (i) structure and functional mapping of a non-human primate brain (the marmoset brain); (ii) development of innovative neurotechnologies for brain mapping; and (iii) human brain mapping; and clinical research. Brain/MINDS researchers are highly motivated to identify the neuronal circuits responsible for the phenotype of neurological and psychiatric disorders, and to understand the development of these devastating disorders through the integration of these three subject areas.

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Interlaminar Glia and Other Glial Themes Revisited: Pending Answers Following Three Decades of Glial Research

Neuroglia ◽

10.3390/neuroglia1010003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 7-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jorge Colombo

Keyword(s):

Glial Cell ◽

Cell Biology ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Primate Brain ◽

Glial Function ◽

And Function ◽

Main Model ◽

Careful Assessment ◽

Human Primate

This review aims to highlight the various significant matters in glial research stemming from personal work by the author and associates at the Unit of Applied Neurobiology (UNA, CEMIC-CONICET), and some of the pending questions. A reassessment and further comments on interlaminar astrocytes—an astroglial cell type that is specific to humans and other non-human primates, and is not found in rodents, is presented. Tentative hypothesis regarding their function and future possible research lines that could contribute to further the analysis of their development and possible role(s), are suggested. The possibility that they function as a separate entity from the “territorial” astrocytes, is also considered. In addition, the potential significance of our observations on interspecies differences in in vitro glial cell dye coupling, on glial diffusible factors affecting the induction of this glial phenotype, and on their interference with the cellular toxic effects of cerebrospinal fluid obtained from l-DOPA treated patients with Parkinson´s disease, is also considered. The major differences oberved in the cerebral cortex glial layout between human and rodents—the main model for studying glial function and pathology—calls for a careful assessment of known and potential species differences in all aspects of glial cell biology. This is essential to provide a better understanding of the organization and function of human and non-human primate brain, and of the neurobiological basis of their behavior.

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The human brain: anatomy, evolution, and function

Textbook of Evolutionary Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine ◽

10.1093/med:psych/9780198717942.003.0002 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 41-74

Author(s):

Martin Brüne

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Action Planning ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Brain Anatomy ◽

Agonistic Behaviour ◽

Social Decision ◽

Primate Brain ◽

And Function ◽

Social Decision Making ◽

The Brain

The human brain is the most complex organ that has ever evolved. It contains more neurons and synapses than any other primate brain. In relation to body weight, it is outstandingly large and distinctly convoluted. Several parts of the brain have enlarged disproportionally over evolutionary time. Those brain regions are mainly involved in emotion processing, understanding and reflecting upon one’s own and other minds, memory, social decision-making, and action planning, suggesting that the human brain is adapted to dealing with social matters. The human brain is also conspicuous with regard to its slow maturation, which is linked to the huge amount of social information that needs to be learned until adulthood. Cross-talk among neurons is maintained by the action of neuromodulators and neurotransmitters, many of which are ancient and have served multiple purposes in plants and animals. They help regulate defensive and agonistic behaviour, social attachment, and inhibitory control.

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A probabilistic atlas and reference system for the human brain: International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM)

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2001.0915 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 356 (1412) ◽

pp. 1293-1322 ◽

Cited By ~ 1346

Author(s):

John Mazziotta ◽

Arthur Toga ◽

Alan Evans ◽

Peter Fox ◽

Jack Lancaster ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Brain Mapping ◽

Reference System ◽

Large Scale ◽

Large Population ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Clinical Diagnostics ◽

International Consortium ◽

Probabilistic Atlas ◽

And Function

Motivated by the vast amount of information that is rapidly accumulating about the human brain in digital form, we embarked upon a program in 1992 to develop a four–dimensional probabilistic atlas and reference system for the human brain. Through an International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) a dataset is being collected that includes 7000 subjects between the ages of eighteen and ninety years and including 342 mono– and dizygotic twins. Data on each subject includes detailed demographic, clinical, behavioural and imaging information. DNA has been collected for genotyping from 5800 subjects. A component of the programme uses post–mortem tissue to determine the probabilistic distribution of microscopic cyto– and chemoarchitectural regions in the human brain. This, combined with macroscopic information about structure and function derived from subjects in vivo , provides the first large scale opportunity to gain meaningful insights into the concordance or discordance in micro– and macroscopic structure and function. The philosophy, strategy, algorithm development, data acquisition techniques and validation methods are described in this report along with database structures. Examples of results are described for the normal adult human brain as well as examples in patients with Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. The ability to quantify the variance of the human brain as a function of age in a large population of subjects for whom data is also available about their genetic composition and behaviour will allow for the first assessment of cerebral genotype–phenotype–behavioural correlations in humans to take place in a population this large. This approach and its application should provide new insights and opportunities for investigators interested in basic neuroscience, clinical diagnostics and the evaluation of neuropsychiatric disorders in patients.

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Action recognition in the primate brain: a comparative functional MRI study of the organization and function of human mirror system and non-human primate.

Impact ◽

10.21820/23987073.2018.2.44 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 (2) ◽

pp. 44-46

Author(s):

Koen Nelissen

Keyword(s):

Functional Mri ◽

Action Recognition ◽

Mirror System ◽

Primate Brain ◽

Mri Study ◽

And Function ◽

Human Primate

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Towards a comprehensive atlas of cortical connections in a primate brain: Mapping tracer injection studies of the common marmoset into a reference digital template

The Journal of Comparative Neurology ◽

10.1002/cne.24023 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 524 (11) ◽

pp. 2161-2181 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

Piotr Majka ◽

Tristan A. Chaplin ◽

Hsin-Hao Yu ◽

Alexander Tolpygo ◽

Partha P. Mitra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Mapping ◽

Common Marmoset ◽

Tracer Injection ◽

Primate Brain ◽

Cortical Connections ◽

The Common ◽

Digital Template

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Towards a comprehensive atlas of cortical connections in a primate brain: Mapping tracer injection studies of the common marmoset into a reference digital template

The Journal of Comparative Neurology ◽

10.1002/cne.24037 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 524 (11) ◽

pp. Spc1-Spc1

Author(s):

Piotr Majka ◽

Tristan A. Chaplin ◽

Hsin-Hao Yu ◽

Alexander Tolpygo ◽

Partha P. Mitra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Mapping ◽

Common Marmoset ◽

Tracer Injection ◽

Primate Brain ◽

Cortical Connections ◽

The Common ◽

Digital Template

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Deubiquitylating enzymes in neuronal health and disease

Cell Death and Disease ◽

10.1038/s41419-020-03361-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Fatima Amer-Sarsour ◽

Alina Kordonsky ◽

Yevgeny Berdichevsky ◽

Gali Prag ◽

Avraham Ashkenazi

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Neurodegenerative Disorders ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Pivotal Role ◽

Protein Homeostasis ◽

Neuronal Function ◽

Health And Disease ◽

And Function

AbstractUbiquitylation and deubiquitylation play a pivotal role in protein homeostasis (proteostasis). Proteostasis shapes the proteome landscape in the human brain and its impairment is linked to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Here we discuss the emerging roles of deubiquitylating enzymes in neuronal function and survival. We provide an updated perspective on the genetics, physiology, structure, and function of deubiquitylases in neuronal health and disease.

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