Indian scientists produce most detailed 3D atlas of the human brainstem

印度科学家绘制出人类脑干最详细的 3D 图谱

For more than a century, neuroscientists have studied the human brain much as early cartographers mapped unknown lands: piecing together a vast landscape from scattered observations. 一个多世纪以来，神经科学家研究人脑的方式，就像早期制图师绘制未知土地一样：通过零散的观察拼凑出一幅广阔的图景。

Even today, pathologists diagnosing disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease typically inspect a handful of tissue samples from an organ containing some 86 billion neurons. Much of the landscape remains unseen. 即使在今天，病理学家在诊断阿尔茨海默病等疾病时，通常也只是检查一个包含约 860 亿个神经元的器官中的少量组织样本。大脑的大部分区域仍然处于未知的状态。

That is why scientists at the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre (SGBC) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) believe they have taken an important step towards filling one of neuroscience’s biggest gaps. They have produced what they describe as the world’s most detailed three-dimensional atlas of the human brainstem at cellular resolution - a digital map that lets scientists travel seamlessly from MRI scans of the whole brain to individual nerve cells. 正因如此，印度理工学院马德拉斯分校（IIT-M）Sudha Gopalakrishnan 脑中心（SGBC）的科学家们认为，他们在填补神经科学领域最大的空白之一方面迈出了重要一步。他们制作了号称世界上最详细的人类脑干细胞分辨率三维图谱——这是一张数字地图，使科学家能够从全脑 MRI 扫描无缝切换到单个神经细胞。

Called Anchor (Atlas of Neurochemical Characterisation of the Human Brainstem with 3D Reconstruction), it combines more than 500 tissue sections from foetal, childhood and adult brains. Built from high-resolution microscope images rather than costlier molecular techniques, it creates a detailed three-dimensional map of the brainstem, identifying more than 200 clusters of brain cells and nerve pathways. Eight chemical markers help distinguish different cell types, producing one of the clearest pictures yet of this vital, but poorly understood, part of the brain. 该图谱名为“Anchor”（人类脑干神经化学特征 3D 重建图谱），结合了来自胎儿、儿童和成人大脑的 500 多份组织切片。它并非通过昂贵的分子技术，而是利用高分辨率显微镜图像构建而成，创建了脑干的详细三维地图，识别出 200 多个脑细胞簇和神经通路。八种化学标记物有助于区分不同的细胞类型，从而为这一至关重要却鲜为人知的大脑区域提供了迄今为止最清晰的图像之一。

The brainstem occupies only a sliver of the brain, yet it keeps people alive. It links the brain to the spinal cord and controls breathing, heartbeat, sleep, wakefulness and movement. Damage to tiny clusters of cells within it can prove catastrophic, but the region’s densely packed architecture has long frustrated efforts to map it in detail. 脑干在大脑中仅占很小一部分，但它却是维持生命的关键。它连接大脑与脊髓，控制呼吸、心跳、睡眠、清醒和运动。脑干内微小细胞簇的损伤可能导致灾难性后果，但该区域极其紧密的结构长期以来一直阻碍着对其进行详细测绘的努力。

Anchor’s importance lies not simply in producing another anatomical map, but in linking two worlds that have largely remained separate: medical imaging, which shows the brain as a whole, and cellular pathology, which reveals it one cell at a time. Anchor 的重要性不仅在于制作了另一张解剖图，更在于它连接了两个长期分离的领域：展示大脑整体的医学影像学，以及逐个细胞揭示大脑结构的细胞病理学。

“We are seeing a visionary programme that puts India at the international table,” says Shubha Tole, an Indian neuroscientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, describing the project as an “unprecedented integration” of engineering, neuroscience and medicine. “我们看到了一个具有远见的计划，它让印度在国际舞台上占有一席之地，”塔塔基础研究所的印度神经科学家 Shubha Tole 说道，她将该项目描述为工程学、神经科学和医学的“前所未有的融合”。

“What the Indian centre has created is essentially what I dreamed of early in my career - to have brain scans match the brain’s microscopic anatomy,” Folkerth, who has examined thousands of brains over more than three decades, told the BBC. “印度中心所创造的，本质上就是我职业生涯早期梦寐以求的东西——让脑部扫描与大脑的微观解剖结构相匹配，”在过去三十多年里检查过数千个大脑的 Folkerth 告诉 BBC。

Anchor attempts to close that gap. Users can zoom from the whole brainstem seen on MRI down to individual neurons while maintaining their precise spatial relationships. The researchers have made the atlas freely available online, hoping it becomes a reference tool for neuroscientists, neurologists and neurosurgeons worldwide. Anchor 试图弥合这一差距。用户可以在保持精确空间关系的同时，从 MRI 上看到的整个脑干缩放到单个神经元。研究人员已将该图谱免费在线发布，希望它能成为全球神经科学家、神经科医生和神经外科医生的参考工具。

Its applications could also extend well beyond anatomy. By comparing healthy brainstem maps with diseased tissue, scientists may better understand disorders ranging from Parkinson’s disease and stroke to Alzheimer’s disease and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). More precise maps could also help neurosurgeons navigate one of the brain’s most delicate regions with greater confidence. 其应用范围也远不止于解剖学。通过比较健康的脑干图谱与病变组织，科学家可以更好地理解从帕金森病、中风到阿尔茨海默病和婴儿猝死综合征（SIDS）等各种疾病。更精确的图谱还可以帮助神经外科医生更自信地在这一大脑最脆弱的区域进行手术。

Part of this atlas’s appeal lies in its simplicity. Built from high-resolution images of thin slices of post-mortem brain tissue, the approach makes detailed, cell-level mapping affordable. That, says Mitra, has made it possible to chart the human brainstem at an unprecedented scale. 该图谱的吸引力部分在于其简洁性。通过对死后脑组织薄切片进行高分辨率成像，这种方法使得详细的细胞级测绘变得经济可行。Mitra 表示，这使得以史无前例的规模绘制人类脑干图谱成为可能。