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Abstract:
One of the most striking characteristic of the brain is its profuse neuronal connectivity. Not surprisingly, the function of the nervous system critically depends on the spatiotemporal pattern of intercommunication between different regions of the brain. Both macro- and microscopic aspects of the wiring diagrams of brain circuits are relevant and need to be understood in order to cope with the complexity of the brain function. In this way, for
instance, the long-range connections that carry the functional specification of cortical territories need to be studied together with the detailed microcircuits inside a cortical column. Moreover, the temporal dimension of these wiring diagrams must be investigated since neuronal networks are dynamic structures exhibiting context-dependent changes in synaptic weights (Canals et al., 2009) and numbers (Chklovskii et al., 2004). Investigations
over the last decades strongly suggest that stimulus or task related neural activity is distributed over large parts of the brain, covering different cortical and sub-cortical areas. For a detailed understanding of brain function, it is of prime importance to understand the
organization of the neuronal connections. To chart the anatomical connections between the various components of brain networks, the neuronal tract tracing technique has been proved to be very useful. Thus, experimental tools that allow the exploration of brain circuits at diverse organizational levels are mandatory for the understanding of brain intercommunication and information processing.
