Diagrams of the Brain Paint a Colorful 'Brainbow'


An image from the cerebral cortex of a "brainbow" mapped mouse brain.
Researchers have developed a new technique to label individual neurons in the brain in different colors. This method, which the scientists have dubbed 'brainbow,' could help shed light on brain function in a way that traditional staining methods don't allow.
Jeff Lichtman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular and cellular biology and member of the Center for Brain Science, Harvard University


At left, parts of a motor neuron from a nerve that controls eye movement, in a "brainbow" mapped mouse. At right, neurons in the dentate gyrus, part of the hippocampus a region of the brain that controls memory and spatial navigation.

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