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Existing Methods to Reconstruct Neural Connections.

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There are several existing methods that are published. In this post I’m going to describe some of them. Neural​ ​connectivity​ ​analyzing​ ​using​ ​Connectivity​ ​Matrix​ ​construction [1] As I said in the previous post, we gather the pairwise neural connections using calcium florescence imaging [2]. And using this method we can discover and analyze the neural connectivity. At the end of the post I will mention the references and if you interested in this method you can refer them. This method uses Matrix completion methods and local thresholding to reconstruct neural connections. Basically this method has three steps. Connectivity​ ​Matrix​ ​Semi-Construction Suppose there are N neurons are in the sample, then we use NxN dimension matrix to denote the pairwise connections that identified from the Calcium Florescence Imaging. But in this step we enter only fraction of data to the connectivity matrix. The completion of other half of the matrix will done in th...

How to Observe Neuronal Connections

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What is a neuronal connection? Neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information through electrical and chemical signals. These signals between neuron occur via specialized connections called “synapses”. How to identify these connections Calcium Fluorescence Imaging is the methodology that we use to identify the neuronal connections. Calcium Fluorescence Imaging Calcium Fluorescence Imaging is very famous methodology to analyze cells. In this test, Ca 2+ ions are allowed to go through the neuron and fluorescent molecules that can respond to the binding of Ca 2+ ions by changing their fluorescence properties this changes can identified by calcium indicators. The imaging of calcium influx into neurons provides an indirect but accurate measure of action-potential generation within individual neurons.                      ...

An Introduction to Neurons and Connectomics

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This project is about Connectomics. Connectomics is the study of the structural and functional connections among brain cells (neurons). From mapping the connections between neurons we can produce a Connectome. So before going to Connectomes it‘s better to get an understanding about neurons.  What are neurons? Neurons are the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system. All brain is mainly built from neurons. The main job of neuron is getting inputs from another neuron and passes it to another neuron.   These inputs are receiving as an electrical signal due to some sensory things. So this Electrical signal may start from our skin. The most important thing is these neurons are connected in specifics ways. So according to the sensory the electrical signal goes through the neurons and signal to the muscles.  Neuron has a specific design. Dendrites , soma and axon are the main parts of the neuron cell(Look picture). Soma is the body of the neuron and it hous...