Allen Cell Types Database updated with new data and models

Your doctor should be studying this in order to properly set up protocols for recovery for each type of brain cells.
http://www.alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/news-press/press-releases/allen-cell-types-database-updated-new-data-and-models

Updated computer models and new cells added to the database provide a robust look into the building blocks of the brain

March 16, 2017 | Download PDF

The Allen Institute for Brain Science has released additional data and computer models of cell activity for inclusion in the Allen Cell Types Database: a publicly available tool for researchers to explore and understand the building blocks of the brain.

“Comprehensive coverage of hundreds to thousands of cells will be crucial for scientists who want to explore the diversity of nerve cells in the brain, and provides a base from which we can parse cells into meaningful types,” says Lydia Ng, Ph.D., Senior Director of Technology at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. “This release is one more step in building a fundamental framework to help make advancements in neuroscience.”

Models serve as a critical link between observed data and theories about how cells work, enabling scientists to understand the mechanisms that give rise to neuron function. Two types of models have been added and updated as part of this release. The first set are models that reduce the complexity of neurons and use cell measurements to “predict” the activity and function of those cells, which are now available for 633 neurons in the database. Additionally, more sophisticated neuronal models based on cell shape, morphology and subcellular components are now available for hundreds of neurons via an interactive web browser.

The Allen Cell Types Database contains detailed descriptive features gathered from individual neurons in the mouse brain, including location, electrical activity and shape. For this release, electrophysiological recordings from an additional 130 cells from the cortex have been added to the database.

The Allen Cell Types Database (celltypes.brain-map.org) is a fundamental resource of the Allen Institute’s ten-year plan to understand how activity in the brain leads to perception, decision-making and action. Understanding cell types—the brain’s building blocks—is critical to making sense of both how the healthy brain functions and what goes wrong in diseases such as autism, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Additional updates to Allen Brain Atlas resources are planned for June and October of 2017.

About the Allen Institute for Brain Science

The Allen Institute for Brain Science is a division of the Allen Institute (www.alleninstitute.org), an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit medical research organization dedicated to accelerating the understanding of how the human brain works in health and disease. Using a big science approach, the Allen Institute generates useful public resources used by researchers and organizations around the globe, drives technological and analytical advances, and discovers fundamental brain properties through integration of experiments, modeling and theory. Launched in 2003 with a seed contribution from founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen, the Allen Institute is supported by a diversity of government, foundation and private funds to enable its projects. Given the Institute’s achievements, Mr. Allen committed an additional $300 million in 2012 for the first four years of a ten-year plan to further propel and expand the Institute’s scientific programs, bringing his total commitment to date to $500 million. The Allen Institute’s data and tools are publicly available online at www.brain-map.org.

New brain mapping reveals unknown cell types

No wonder we have a hell of a time getting competently rehabbed. We don't even know yet what types of brain cells we have or what they do. I wonder where the 65 billion number came from, it used to be assumed that we had 100 billion until someone a couple of years ago determined there was no basis for it and came up with 80 billion.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=149839&CultureCode=en
Using a process known as single cell sequencing, scientists at Karolinska Institutet have produced a detailed map of cortical cell types and the genes active within them. The study, which is published in the journal Science, marks the first time this method of analysis has been used on such a large scale on such complex tissue. The team studied over three thousand cells, one at a time, and even managed to identify a number of hitherto unknown types.
“If you compare the brain to a fruit salad, you could say that previous methods were like running the fruit through a blender and seeing what colour juice you got from different parts of the brain,” says Sten Linnarsson, senior researcher at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics. “But in recent years we’ve developed much more sensitive methods of analysis that allow us to see which genes are active in individual cells. This is like taking pieces of the fruit salad, examining them one by one and then sorting them into piles to see how many different kinds of fruit it contains, what they’re made up of and how they interrelate.”
The knowledge that all living organisms are built up of cells is almost 200 years old. Since the discovery was made by a group of 19th century German scientists, we have also learnt that the nature of a particular body tissue is determined by its constituent cells, which are, in turn, determined by which genes are active in their DNA. However, little is still known about how this happens in detail, especially as regards the brain, the body’s most complex organ.
In the present study, the scientists used large-scale single-cell analysis to answer some of these questions. By studying over three thousand cells from the cerebral cortex in mice, one at a time and in detail, and comparing which of the 20,000 genes were active in each one, they were able to sort the cells into virtual piles. They identified 47 different kinds of cell, including a large proportion of specialised neurons, some blood vessel cells and glial cells, which take care of waste products, protect against infection and supply nerve cells with nutrients.
With the help of this detailed map, the scientists were able to identify hitherto unknown cell types, including a nerve cell in the most superficial cortical layer, and six different types of oligodendrocyte, which are cells that form the electrically insulating myelin sheath around the nerve cells. The new knowledge the project has generated can shed more light on diseases that affect the myelin, such as multiple sclerosis (MS).
 “We could also confirm previous findings, such as that the pyramidal cells of the cerebral cortex are functionally organised in layers,” says Jens Hjerling-Leffler, who co-led the study with Dr Linnarsson. “But above all, we have created a much more detailed map of the cells of the brain that describes each cell type in detail and shows which genes are active in it. This gives science a new tool for studying these cell types in disease models and helps us to understand better how brain cell respond to disease and injury.”
There are estimated to be 100 million cells in a mouse brain, and 65 billion in a human brain. Nerve cells are approximately 20 micrometres in diameter, glial cells about 10 micrometres. A micrometre is equivalent to a thousandth of a millimetre.
The study was carried out by Sten Linnarsson’s and Jens Hjerling-Leffler’s research groups at the department of medical biochemistry and biophysics, in particular by Amit Zeisel and Ana Muños Manchado. It also involved researchers from Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Oncology-Pathology, and Uppsala University.
 The study was financed with grants from several bodies, including the European Research Council, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society, the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme, the Swedish Society of Medicine, the Swedish Brain Fund, Karolinska Institutet’s strategic programme for neuroscience (StratNeuro), the Human Frontier Science Program, the Åke Wiberg Foundation and the Clas Groschinsky Memorial Fund.
Karolinska Institutet - a medical university: ki.se/english
http://ki.se/pressroom