Perspective Research of Specific Neural Projection with Microspheres Retro-Grade Tracing

Perspective

Austin J Anat. 2016; 3(2): 1052.

Perspective Research of Specific Neural Projection with Microspheres Retro-Grade Tracing

Jinhao Sun*

Department of Anatomy, Shandong University, China

*Corresponding author: Jinhao Sun, Department of Anatomy, Shandong University, School of Medicine, China

Received: July 21, 2016; Accepted: July 28, 2016; Published: August 16, 2016

Perspective

Brain is the most complex organ of human body and the cerebral cortex is the most component of the brain. The cerebral cortex itself is divided into different regions, each containing specific neuron types. During development, these neurons project to different target region and establish the specific neural projections [1].

Decades of research have confirmed that many functions including cognitive and motivated behavior require the intergration of sensory inputs and motor outputs. In neuroanatomy, it is the specific neural projection which is responsible for transmission of neural signal. Recently, Zingg et al. launched the Mouse Connectome Project, and they generated a cortical connectivity atlas [2]. Although numerous studies have examined neural connections of many region of mammalian brain, the specification and communication of different cerebral region are largely unclear. Especially, the molecular mechanisms that operate the neural projection is elusive until now

In our laboratory, we focus on the projections of dopaminergic neurons in midbrain, these neurons can be divided into mesostriatal, mesocortical and mesolimbic subtype cells with projection to striatum, prefrontal cortex and neucleus accubens respectively. Microsphere retrobeads were bought from Lumafluor Company. This tracer was reported before for neural labeling [3] and demonstrated an Ideal effect. We injected the green retrobeads into prefrontal cortex and striatum and labeled mesocortical and mesostriatal subtype dopaminergic neurons. These neurons can be easily detected under fluorescence microscope without staining (Figure 1).