On the computer screens, the mouse brain is shown from several angles. Then you click, and a small area of the brain is highlighted in colour. With the next click, something happens to the colour markers. The marked areas change slightly in tone and a couple of new areas light up. With the next clicks, they change a little more, and then a little more again.
We are taking a deep dive into the new 4D atlas created by researchers at the University of Oslo. We are now moving through different age stages in the brain.
"The brain is a bit like a universe. There is still so much unknown. We probably have just as much left to discover as we know so far," says Heidi Kleven. She is a researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Oslo, and works with the research infrastructure EBRAINS.
The atlas works like Google Earth for the brain
A brain atlas is a three-dimensional digital map that can function as a kind of Google Earth for the brain. It can be studied from different angles and can display many types of information about the brain's structure and function. In such atlases, researchers can gather different types of information that belong to the same place in the brain.
"The brain in mice and in us humans shares many fundamental features. That is why brain researchers can use the mouse brain as a model to understand how the brain is organised and how its systems work. This is useful in research on how these systems are affected by disease or different types of treatment," explains Kleven.
In the different areas of the brain, there are billions of nerve cells that communicate with one another. They control thoughts, feelings, behaviour and movements, and process all the impressions that the senses take in.
The mouse brain is much smaller than the human brain. It has a smooth surface, whereas our brain has deep grooves and complex folds that provide a larger cerebral cortex.
What is new about this atlas is that it shows development over time
In the new atlas called DeMBA, you can follow the brain's development from day 4 after birth up to day 56, when the mouse is an adult. Altogether, the atlas shows the growth of the mouse brain across 53 age stages, which you can click through step by step or study as a film. Kleven and co-researcher Harry Carey describe this in a new article in Nature Communications.
What makes the atlas not only three-dimensional, but also four-dimensional, is precisely that it shows the early development of the mouse brain.
"In humans, the brain starts to develop as early as week 4 of pregnancy. It develops most during the first five years of life, but is not considered fully developed until around the age of 25," explains Kleven.
The atlas is particularly interesting for those researching autism, schizophrenia and ADHD
The atlas can be used in brain research and can, among other things, be useful for those studying brain disorders that appear in adolescence, such as autism, schizophrenia and ADHD.
"Researchers can now more easily compare what is similar and different at various ages when they want to develop a theory about when in development something happens. It becomes like a time machine where you can place your data at the correct developmental stage and compare it with data from other ages. In this way, researchers will be able to achieve higher precision in their studies," says Kleven.
The researchers reuse other people's research
With the new atlas, you can create image series from every possible angle, or you can show the shapes of the brain from the outside or the inside. If you place the cursor on an area, its Latin name appears.
"This atlas is built on the reuse of openly available image volumes created by other researchers," says Kleven.
She explains that it is a great help to them that researchers now share their data so that it can be reused.
"It saves a lot of work and resources."
The atlas is part of a multi-billion project
The research group that Carey and Kleven are part of is led by professors Jan Bjålie and Trygve Leergaard at the University of Oslo. For many years, it has taken part in one of the largest EU projects Norway has contributed to. Six billion Norwegian kroner have been invested in the Human Brain Project through EU funding and various national contributions.
This project was developed through the research infrastructure EBRAINS, where brain researchers from all over the world can now share their research data and find suitable data tools and atlases for further research on the data.
