different types of data allowed for more regions to be determined.
For instance, the scientists looked deeper into the brain’s anatomy and discovered that in some regions the density of neurons was vastly different than in others. They also looked at myelin, the protective insulating substance that surrounds cells and speeds up neuronal impulses. The amounts of myelin varied greatly from one region to another. The scientists trained a computer to analyze the data from the human subject’s brains and find the key markers that differentiated each region. Surprisingly, the number of necessary markers were few. This meant that a computer could map an individual's brain in around seventy minutes. The final difference between the research of Dr. Glasser’s team and research of years past is that Dr. Glasser’s team analyzed the brain's entire breadth, unlike those who looked at only aspect of the cerebral cortex.1
The Connectome map created by Dr. Glasser’s team contains 180 regions. Of these, 83 were familiar zones and 97 were previously uncharacterized.2 The new regions were formed either by reforming the boundaries of older zones or by partitioning larger regions into multiple smaller ones. For example, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, once thought to be one region, it is now known to contain twelve smaller ones.
There are many important implications of this research, especially in healthcare. According to CNN, as reported in Advisory Board, an organization dedicated to helping healthcare organizations improve performance, the research could be used for teaching neurosurgery students or for helping to plan more detailed operations. Scientists could also use the more precise map to figure out how Alzheimer’s and other dementias affect the brain.3,1
The next step in this research is to determine if the identified regions are actually separate areas. This would mean analyzing gene expression of neurons in different regions. “You can imagine going to these 180 regions, taking a punch of tissue, and seeing if you can really genetically differentiate them,” said