Basic Atlas of the Drosophila Brain

Introduction (see below)
Schematic Representations
Major Brain Centres
Reduced Silver Sections
Autofluorescence Sections
Golgi Impregnations
Cobalt Fills
EM Preparations

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Introduction

Schematic Representations: These provide diagrammatic views of the nervous system from a number of different perspectives. By clicking the cursor on a particular anatomical domain, the user will embark on a tour that links textual descriptions to images obtained by a range of different visualisation techniques.

Three dimensional renditions. These will include models, schematic models, and movies of confocal images of the brain or brain regions. Virtual dissections provide interactive guides to relationships amongst brain architectures.

List of Major Brain Structures: This provides a short introduction to the structure in question and, provides links to more detailed information within other regions of flybrain.

Silver Stain Atlas: This will depict frontal, sagittal, and horizontal section series of the brain and thoracic/abdominal ganglia, displayed against a co-ordinate system. Specific structures (tracts, neuropils, cell body groups, receptor types) will be labeled. Clicking the cursor on a particular label will take the user to the corresponding entry in a glossary of anatomical terms, and/or will allow movement to linked image files. Users will be able to download unannotated images for their own manipulation.

Annotated Autofluorescence Sections This will be organised and annotated in the same way as the Silver Stain Atlas, but will be restricted to the adult brain.

Golgi Impregnations: A library of representative impregnations will reveal neuronal architecture as serial sections, as 3-D reconstructions, and as Quicktime/MPEG animations.

EM Preparations: A library of informative preparations from electron microscope studies.

Silver-intensified cobalt preparations: Images of cobalt-silver preparations provide views of selectively filled neurons or groups of neurons.

Cajal block silver preparations: Other reduced silver methods include the Cajal block silver stain. These are particularly informative about motor terminals onto muscle, and about the neuroarchitecture of the optic lobes. Images of Cajal block silver material will be linked to relevant parts of the Atlas.

Staining for neuractive substances: Immunocytochemistry (immunostaining) of selected neuropils will demonstrates the "chemical neuroanatomy" of the brain. Images of brain and thoracic ganglia neuropils stained with antibodies (amplified by secondary antibodies) against neuropeptides, transmitters, and other neuractive substances.

Interspecific comparisons: Examples from other species of Diptera provide useful comparisons with Drosophila, or they provide images that are currently unobtainable from Drosophila due to technical difficulties. These include some cobalt fills of optic lobe neurons and immunostaining of the mid-brain.

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