A cellular resolution atlas of Broca’s area

• Published in: Science advances Vol. 9; no. 41; p. eadg3844
• Main Authors: Costantini, Irene, Morgan, Leah, Yang, Jiarui, Balbastre, Yael, Varadarajan, Divya, Pesce, Luca, Scardigli, Marina, Mazzamuto, Giacomo, Gavryusev, Vladislav, Castelli, Filippo Maria, Roffilli, Matteo, Silvestri, Ludovico, Laffey, Jessie, Raia, Sophia, Varghese, Merina, Wicinski, Bridget, Chang, Shuaibin, Chen, Ichun Anderson, Wang, Hui, Cordero, Devani, Vera, Matthew, Nolan, Jackson, Nestor, Kimberly, Mora, Jocelyn, Iglesias, Juan Eugenio, Garcia Pallares, Erendira, Evancic, Kathryn, Augustinack, Jean C., Fogarty, Morgan, Dalca, Adrian V., Frosch, Matthew P., Magnain, Caroline, Frost, Robert, van der Kouwe, Andre, Chen, Shih-Chi, Boas, David A., Pavone, Francesco Saverio, Fischl, Bruce, Hof, Patrick R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 13.10.2023
• Subjects: Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain Mapping; Broca Area; Cerebral Cortex; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Neuroscience; SciAdv r-articles
• ISSN: 2375-2548; 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3844

Brain cells are arranged in laminar, nuclear, or columnar structures, spanning a range of scales. Here, we construct a reliable cell census in the frontal lobe of human cerebral cortex at micrometer resolution in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)–referenced system using innovative imaging and analysis methodologies. MRI establishes a macroscopic reference coordinate system of laminar and cytoarchitectural boundaries. Cell counting is obtained with a digital stereological approach on the 3D reconstruction at cellular resolution from a custom-made inverted confocal light-sheet fluorescence microscope (LSFM). Mesoscale optical coherence tomography enables the registration of the distorted histological cell typing obtained with LSFM to the MRI-based atlas coordinate system. The outcome is an integrated high-resolution cellular census of Broca’s area in a human postmortem specimen, within a whole-brain reference space atlas. Advancements in imaging and analysis enable the construction of a cellular atlas of the human cerebral cortex.