On Neurite Path

The brain is a complex web of biological circuits, with connections between areas responsible for activities like receiving our senses, memory, or coordinating movement. While we might be able to see these connections – the neurons highlighted here in white in a mouse’s brain – the 'wiring' is a challenge to untangle. Researchers feed these high-resolution microscope images into a new computer algorithm aiming to virtually separate the web of overlapping neurons. The software breaks down each neuron into shorter sections, treating them like stepping stones along each cell’s path (although ~10,000 times smaller). Knowing the likely angles between the body of the neuron and its branches (or neurites) helps the software decide on the 'correct' paths whenever two neurons overlap. The result is a colourful untangled map of neuron connections in the mouse’s brain, and a technique that might be mind-mapping inside human brains soon, too.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Video from work by Lin Cai and colleagues
• Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, September 2025