The connectome from the cerebral cortex to skeletal muscle using viral transneuronal tracers: a review

Yan Huang; Yunhua Zhang; Zhigang He; Anne Manyande; Duozhi Wu; Maohui Feng; Hongbing Xiang

The connectome from the cerebral cortex to skeletal muscle using viral transneuronal tracers: a review

Am J Transl Res. 2022 Jul 15;14(7):4864-4879. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yan Huang^{1

2}, Yunhua Zhang^{3

4

5}, Zhigang He¹, Anne Manyande⁶, Duozhi Wu⁷, Maohui Feng⁸, Hongbing Xiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Tongji Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan 430030, Hubei, P. R. China.
² Department of Interventional Therapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University Dalian 116000, Liaoning, P. R. China.
³ Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China.
⁴ Clinical Medical College of Hubei University of Chinese Medicine Wuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China.
⁵ Hubei Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine Wuhan 430061, Hubei, P. R. China.
⁶ School of Human and Social Sciences, University of West London London, UK.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology, Hainan General Hospital Haikou 570311, Hainan, P. R. China.
⁸ Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Wuhan Peritoneal Cancer Clinical Medical Research Center, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors and Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center Wuhan 430071, Hubei, P. R. China.

PMID: 35958450
PMCID: PMC9360884

Abstract

Connectomics has developed from an initial observation under an electron microscope to the present well-known medical imaging research approach. The emergence of the most popular transneuronal tracers has further advanced connectomics research. Researchers use the virus trans-nerve tracing method to trace the whole brain, mark the brain nerve circuit and nerve connection structure, and construct a complete nerve conduction pathway. This review assesses current methods of studying cortical to muscle connections using viral neuronal tracers and demonstrates their application in disease diagnosis and prognosis.

Keywords: Connectomics; cerebral cortex; skeletal muscle; transneuronal tracers.

Publication types

Review