Kim Yeon Jin, Packer Orin, Macrina Thomas, Pollreisz Andreas, Curcio Christine A, Lee Kisuk, Kemnitz Nico, Ih Dodam, Nguyen Tri, Lu Ran, Popovych Sergiy, Halageri Akhilesh, Bae J Alexander, Strout Joseph J, Gerhard Stephan, Smith Robert G, Martin Paul R, Grünert Ulrike, Dacey Dennis M
Department of Neurobiology & Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195.
Zetta AI LLC, Sherrill, NY, USA.
bioRxiv. 2025 Aug 6:2025.04.05.647403. doi: 10.1101/2025.04.05.647403.
What makes human brains distinctive? The answer is hidden at least partially in the myriad synaptic connections made between neurons - the connectome. The foveal retina is a primate specialization which presents a feasible site for deriving a complete connectome of a human CNS structure. In the fovea, cells and circuits are miniaturized and compressed to densely sample the visual image at highest resolution and initiate form, color and motion perception. Here we provide a draft connectome of all neurons in a human fovea. We found synaptic connections, distinct to humans, linking short-wavelength sensitive cones to color vision pathways. Moreover, by reconstructing excitatory synaptic pathways arising from cone photoreceptors we found that over 95% of foveal ganglion cells contribute to only three major pathways to the brain. Our study reveals unique features of a human neural system and opens a door to a complete foveal connectome.
是什么让人类大脑与众不同？答案至少部分隐藏在神经元之间无数的突触连接中——即连接组。中央凹视网膜是灵长类动物的一种特殊结构，是推导人类中枢神经系统结构完整连接组的一个可行部位。在中央凹，细胞和神经回路被微型化和压缩，以便以最高分辨率密集采样视觉图像，并启动形状、颜色和运动感知。在这里，我们提供了人类中央凹所有神经元的连接组草图。我们发现了人类特有的突触连接，将短波敏感视锥细胞与色觉通路相连。此外，通过重建视锥光感受器产生的兴奋性突触通路，我们发现超过95%的中央凹神经节细胞仅通向大脑的三条主要通路。我们的研究揭示了人类神经系统的独特特征，并为完整的中央凹连接组打开了一扇门。
