Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue

Tavakoli M, Lyudchik J, Januszewski M, Vistunou V, Agudelo Duenas N, Vorlaufer J, Sommer CM, Kreuzinger C, Oliveira B, Cenameri A, Novarino G, Jain V, Danzl JG. 2025. Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue. Nature. 642, 398–410.

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Journal Article | Published | English

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Corresponding author has ISTA affiliation

Abstract
The information-processing capability of the brain’s cellular network depends on the physical wiring pattern between neurons and their molecular and functional characteristics. Mapping neurons and resolving their individual synaptic connections can be achieved by volumetric imaging at nanoscale resolution1,2 with dense cellular labelling. Light microscopy is uniquely positioned to visualize specific molecules, but dense, synapse-level circuit reconstruction by light microscopy has been out of reach, owing to limitations in resolution, contrast and volumetric imaging capability. Here we describe light-microscopy-based connectomics (LICONN). We integrated specifically engineered hydrogel embedding and expansion with comprehensive deep-learning-based segmentation and analysis of connectivity, thereby directly incorporating molecular information into synapse-level reconstructions of brain tissue. LICONN will allow synapse-level phenotyping of brain tissue in biological experiments in a readily adoptable manner.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2025-06-12
Journal Title
Nature
Publisher
Springer Nature
Acknowledgement
We thank S. Dorkenwald and P. Li for critical reading of the manuscript, S. Loomba for discussions and E. Miguel for support with data handling. We acknowledge support from ISTA’s scientific service units: Imaging and Optics, Lab Support, Scientific Computing, the preclinical facility, the Miba Machine Shop and the library. We acknowledge funding from the following sources: Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grant DK W1232 (J.G.D. and M.R.T.); Austrian Academy of Sciences DOC fellowship 26137 (M.R.T.); Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung NÖ (NFB) grant LSC18-022 (J.G.D.); the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellowship 665385 (J.L.); and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and European Research Council (ERC) grant 101044865 ‘SecretAutism’ (G.N.).Open access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria).
Volume
642
Page
398-410
ISSN
eISSN
IST-REx-ID

Cite this

Tavakoli M, Lyudchik J, Januszewski M, et al. Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue. Nature. 2025;642:398-410. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08985-1
Tavakoli, M., Lyudchik, J., Januszewski, M., Vistunou, V., Agudelo Duenas, N., Vorlaufer, J., … Danzl, J. G. (2025). Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue. Nature. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08985-1
Tavakoli, Mojtaba, Julia Lyudchik, Michał Januszewski, Vitali Vistunou, Nathalie Agudelo Duenas, Jakob Vorlaufer, Christoph M Sommer, et al. “Light-Microscopy-Based Connectomic Reconstruction of Mammalian Brain Tissue.” Nature. Springer Nature, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08985-1.
M. Tavakoli et al., “Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue,” Nature, vol. 642. Springer Nature, pp. 398–410, 2025.
Tavakoli M, Lyudchik J, Januszewski M, Vistunou V, Agudelo Duenas N, Vorlaufer J, Sommer CM, Kreuzinger C, Oliveira B, Cenameri A, Novarino G, Jain V, Danzl JG. 2025. Light-microscopy-based connectomic reconstruction of mammalian brain tissue. Nature. 642, 398–410.
Tavakoli, Mojtaba, et al. “Light-Microscopy-Based Connectomic Reconstruction of Mammalian Brain Tissue.” Nature, vol. 642, Springer Nature, 2025, pp. 398–410, doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08985-1.
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