Researchers developed the BrainCAD platform to overcome the limitations of traditional 2D brain sectioning by creating a high-resolution 3D cellular atlas of the mouse brain. By combining transgenic fluorescent labeling with advanced fMOST imaging, the team successfully mapped the precise spatial coordinates of 20 molecularly defined cell types, including glutamatergic, GABAergic, and modulatory neurons. This comprehensive dataset allowed for unsupervised clustering analysis, which identified novel subregions and functional zones that are often overlooked by standard anatomical frameworks. The study also explores the Glu/GABA balance across various brain structures, offering a more granular look at how different neurons are organized at a 10-micrometer scale. Ultimately, this open-resource atlas provides a foundational tool for integrating molecular identity with brain function and circuit architecture.

References:

• Zhao M, Zhou J, Jiang T, et al. Molecularly defined cellular atlas of the entire mouse brain with isotropic single-cell resolution[J]. Nature Communications, 2025, 16(1): 10167.