Robbins 1 Erik Robbins Biology 1615 Evelyn Galvez Summary of Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry

Neural circuitry, or the nervous system, is one of the most complicated systems of the body. It remains very mysterious even now. It is understood what it does and how it does it but repairing it is an entirely different mountain to climb. The article, the Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry, is a detailed description of what Anderson, Jones, Yang, Shaw and Watt were trying to accomplish and how they accomplished it. Although this article focuses mainly on the retina and eye of animal subjects, it is not limited to either. The retina just happens to be a very good place to start mapping the neural circuitry. These scientists are looking to the future as they use the knowledge they gain by mapping the retina as a stepping stone to the entire vertebrae nervous system (2). Anderson et al. note that if they could document something as vast as the neural circuitry system, they would have a better grasp of neurological disorders and diseases-including what happens to the nervous system as it becomes infected with a disease and deteriorates. These men and women were pioneers in actually attempting to map complex neural circuitry (2). The mapping of neural circuitry requires a subject. Anderson, Jones, Yang, Shaw and Watt had to harvest the material that they would be studying; they used retinas from rabbits and rats (16). Sophisticated computer programs mosaically pieced together small images of very detailed and complex regions of the neural circuitry. These computers used techniques and special tools such as Light Microscopy (LM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)

Robbins 2 which helped them get high quality images that they would then mosaic together into a final image. Serial section transmission electron microscopy (ssTEM) was more valid than TEM because ssTEM was more detailed (2). The images were so small and so numerous that they needed multiple digital libraries to contain all of the data. Anderson, Jones, Yang, Shaw and Watt found that this method was necessary because the network of the nervous system is so diverse. Unfortunately, they were unable to derive from the information network patterns or behavior due to the numerous motifs or recurring themes. Many biological variables come into play when creating system maps. This means that no two retinas (or nervous systems) are alike. Those variables were things such as synaptic weight, molecular diversity of receptors and channels, gap junction display and electrotonic constraints (3). Classifying these numerous motifs and network sections were necessary to help them document and move their work forward. Anderson, Jones, Yang, Shaw and Watt provided in the article a total of 15 figures of their work to help the reader visualize the finished product. They did this with the technology that was available to them in 2009. Technology and science have a close relationship and as noted in the article, a 1,000 tile mosaic took up 16 gigabytes of memory on the computer (12). In 2009, and even still today, 16 gigabytes is quite a lot of memory of a computer for a 1,000 tile image. These scientists processed terabytes of data as they built the mosaics and classified the LM and ssTEM sets. They eventually tracked and tagged synaptic connections and this helped in the mapping of the retina, it gave them a better understanding of how the eye works neurologically and also gave them a good idea of what it would be like to map the rest of the central nervous system (4).

Robbins 3 Anderson, Jones, Yang, Shaw and Watt were pleased that they had discovered what they were attempting was possible. They discussed how they were successful at mapping out a mammalian retina and were happy to make this information accessible to any all around the globe. In fact, the way they proposed this would be done is quite simple: they would document information, upload it to a database that would be accessible to all who wanted it for educational and study purposes (14). Anderson et al. focused mainly on the results, breaking down all of their process and being visual with their work. For future developments they hoped to have help from computers and machines to auto-track and auto-markup, or classify the images to cut down on the processing time and eliminate human error (15). This article proved to be a good start for mapping the neurological circuitry system for all generations to come.

Citation: Anderson JR, Jones BW, Yang J-H, Shaw MV, Watt CB, et al. (2009) A Computational Framework for Ultrastructural Mapping of Neural Circuitry PLoS Biol 7(3): e10000074. Dol: 10.1371/journal.pbi.1000074