title: Component placement optimization in the brain.
abstract: This computational neuroanatomy study evaluates how well some formalisms derived from combinatorial network optimization theory fit as models for brain structure. At multiple hierarchical levels--brain, ganglion, individual cell--physical placement of neural components appears consistent with a single, simple goal: minimize cost of connections among the components. The most dramatic instance of this "save wire" organizing principle is reported for adjacencies among ganglia in the nematode nervous system; among about 40,000,000 alternative layout orderings, the actual ganglion placement in fact requires the least total connection length. In addition, evidence supports a component placement optimization hypothesis for positioning of individual neurons in the nematode, and also for positioning of mammalian cortical areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park 20742.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cherniak
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003391:Cranial Nerves / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005724:Ganglia / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017952:Ganglia, Invertebrate / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009420:Nervous System / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000033:anatomy & histology