For each of the following research questions, state which technique/method you w

Question

For each of the following research questions, state which technique/method you would choose as the best suited for that question. Briefly explain your answer. Your choices are: electron microscopy, optogenetics, intracellular recordings, extracellular recordings, fluorescence microscopy, Clarity, and fMRI. a. You would like to know which neurons in the visual cortex are active at different times in awake, freely behaving mice. b. You would like to know which regions of the human brain are active when a healthy person forms a judgment or makes a decision. c. You would like to create an image of all the connections a neuron in a mouse brain makes with the highest resolution possible. d. You would like to know where in a type of neuron a specific protein is located.

Explanation / Answer

3. a. Visual cortex in an organism, as in mice here is duly responsible to helps in visualization and making right decisions in the cortex region of the brain. Many experimental methods and research expeditions have used mice for such standard tests where we have used optical fiber based method for real time monitoring or the population activities of neurons. Different cortical and subcortical networks can be detected by the method mentioned as intracellular recordings. This is to measure the action potential of neurons by inserting an electrode inside a neuron, also to remember this is different from extracellular recording as that has very less detection capacity with small electrode (1 micrometer comparing 100-200 micrometer in intracellular recordings). In the same case we can have the help of fluorescent microscope by detecting the cellular activity.

(b) Generally it has seen from the neuronal activity through research using a technology called electroencephalography technology (EEG), where people are tested. Though as we take the current options in our hand we can suggest using the technique functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI. This would be apt for this purpose as it can detect the changes associated with the blood flow in brain.

(c) Developing wiring diagrams of an organism like mouse is a brain initiative with the use of transformative tools. With florescent dye this can be well supported, with the use of different fluorescent proteins this can be done. This would help us identifying the detected gene, an individual’s neuron. In this we have to get the help from the Electron microscope, as the brain samples we need to take and then cutting them using microtome is truly needed.

(d) In our CNS, a higher level animal, the activity of CNS is defined by functions of perception, motion and cognition that signify human life. Different lobes have different active sites in our brain, the transcriptome analysis is readily the best suite to find out. Here the expression in different neurons and glial cells is needed to be discovered for the experimental purposes, with the neuronal activities. The detection and calculation of  mRNA levels in cerebral cortex, and then comparing it to the mRNA levels in all other tissues is a particularly important step. We can have human histochemistry and the use of CLARITY would be helpful. With regard to integration of this technique here, complementary methodologies for brain-mapping studies could be done to see the changes and find the locations of the specific proteins.

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