Non-homogenous axonal bouton distribution in whole-brain single-cell neuronal networks
Published in Cell Reports, Volume 43, 2024
Recommended citation: Qian P, Manubens-Gil L, Jiang S, et al. Non-homogenous axonal bouton distribution in whole-brain single cell neuronal networks[J]. Cell reports 43, 113871 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113871
Results
We hypothesize that neuron morphology details determine network wiring. Specifically, we consider that distribution of axonal boutons throughout the axonal tree is not uniform and that such distribution determines network topology. Meanwhile, perturbation of specific morphological properties (i.e., neuron tree size, complexity, and density of axonal boutons) has a differential significant impact on network structure. To test this hypothesis, we devised an algorithm to generate single-cell networks in the whole brain using putative bouton locations and also simulated uniformly distributed boutons throughout the axon. First, we illustrate the biological relevance of axonal bouton distributions. With the networks we generated, we perform a detailed graph-theoretical analysis of the network structure and its dependence on axonal bouton distribution. To contextualize this information and explore its relevance in comparison to biologically plausible neural morphological alterations, we explored the impact of perturbing specific morphological features.