www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6008/1198/DC1
Supporting Online Material for
From the Connectome to the Synaptome: An Epic Love Story
Javier DeFelipe
*E-mail: defelipe@cajal.csic.es
Published 26 November 2010, Science 330, 1198 (2010)
DOI: 10.1126/science.1193378
This PDF file includes:
SOM Text
Figs. S1 to S3
References
Additional information on Fig. 3 in the main text
(Left) From S.R. Cajal, Significación fisiológica de las expansiones protoplásmicas y
nerviosas de las células de la substancia gris. Rev. Ciencias Méd., Barcelona, 17, 673-679;
715-723, 1891. The legend states: “Fig. 1. Scheme of cellular connections in the olfactory
mucosa, olfactory bulb, tractus and olfactory lobe of the cerebrum. The arrows indicate the
direction of the currents. A, olfactory bulb; B, mucosa; C, olfactory lobe. a, b, c, d. One-way
or centripetal pathway through which sensory or olfactory excitation passes. e, f, g,
Centrifugal pathway through which the [nervous] centers can act on the elements of the bulb,
granules and nerve cells, whose protoplasmic processes penetrate the glomeruli. Fig. 2.
Scheme of the visual excitation pathway through the retina, optic nerve and optic lobe of
birds. A, retina; B, optic lobe. a, b, c, represent a cone, a bipolar cell and a ganglion cell of the
retina, respectively, the order through which visual excitation travels. m, n, o, parallel current
emanating from the rod also involves bipolar and ganglion cells. g, cells of the optic lobe that
receive visual excitation and transfer it to j, the central ganglion. p, q, r, centrifugal currents
that start in certain fusiform cells of the optic lobe and terminate in r, in the retina at the level
of the spongioblasts; f, a spongioblast.”
(Right) From S.R. Cajal, ¿Neuronismo o reticularismo? Las pruebas objetivas de la unidad
anatómica de las células nerviosas. Arch. Neurobiol. 13, 217-291, 579-646, 1933. The legend
states: “A, small pyramid; B and C, medium and giant pyramids respectively; a, axon; [c],
nervous collaterals that appear to cross and touch the dendrites and the trunks [apical
dendrites] of the pyramids; H, white matter; [E, Martinotti cell with ascending axon]; F,
special cells of the first layer of cerebral cortex; G, fibre coming from the white matter. The
arrows mark the supposed direction of the nervous current.”
Figure captions
Fig. S1. Multicolored neuronal labeling in Brainbow transgenic mice. Left, An axon tract in
the brainstem. Right, The hippocampal dentate gyrus. In the Brainbow mice from which these
images were taken, up to ~160 colors were observed as a result of the cointegration of several
tandem copies of the transgene into the mouse genome, and the independent recombination
of each by Cre recombinase. Taken from (S1).
Fig. S2. Three-dimensional representation of a stack of serial sections and the synaptic
profiles that appear in the corresponding counting brick (mouse cerebral cortex). (A) and (B)
show a stack of serial sections, slightly rotated counter-clockwise through the vertical axis in
(B). In (C) and (D) the counting brick and the three dimensional reconstruction of the
synaptic profiles are rendered. Green objects represent excitatory) synaptic profiles and red
objects inhibitory synaptic profiles. Note that each object can be identified and localized
individually in the 3D space, which allows the spatial distribution of the different types of
synapses to be analyzed (3D synaptic maps). Taken from (S2).
Fig. S3. a, Confocal microscopy stack of 64 serial images showing a pyramidal neuron (red)
intracellularly injected with Lucifer Yellow in the human temporal cortex. By double
labeling with immunocytochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the same section, it is
possible to establish the relative location of TH-labeled axons (green) with respect to the
dendritic arbor of the pyramidal cell. b, Map showing the distribution of putative TH-labeled
inputs (green dots) over the length of the apical and basal dendrites of the 3D reconstructed
pyramidal neuron. c, 3D visualization of the stack of serial images shown in a from different
angles. Taken from (S3).
References
S1. J.W. Lichtman, J. Livet, J.R. Sanes, A technicolour approach to the connectome.
Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 9, 417-422 (2008).
S2. A. Merchán-Pérez, J.R. Rodriguez, C.E. Ribak, J. DeFelipe, Counting synapses
using FIB/SEM microscopy: a true revolution for ultrastructural volume reconstruction.
Front. Neuroanat. 3, 18 (2009).
S3. R. Benavides-Piccione, J.I. Arellano, J. DeFelipe, Catecholaminergic innervation of
pyramidal neurons in the human temporal cortex. Cereb. Cortex 15, 1584-1592 (2005).