Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40577195›Full record

ArticleeLife2025

Neurons throughout the brain embed robust signatures of their anatomical location into spike trains.

Gemechu Bekele Tolossa, Aidan M Schneider, Eva Dyer, Keith B Hengen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Gemechu Bekele Tolossa *Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6405-2908
Aidan M Schneider *Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, United States.
Eva DyerDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, United States.
Keith B HengenDepartment of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5017-4090

Funding

A Comparative Framework for Modeling the Low-Dimensional Geometry of Neural Population StatesR01EB029852 · NIBIB · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · PI DYER, EVA · 2020 to 2020
$1.1M
Robust circuit computation in freely behaving animals.R01NS118442 · NINDS · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI HENGEN, KEITH B. · 2023 to 2024
$1.0M
The Sleep Signature: A Disentangled State in Each NeuronF31NS134240 · NINDS · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI SCHNEIDER, AIDAN · 2024 to 2024
$35k
BRAIN Initiative R01EB029852BRAIN Initiative R01NS118442NIBIB NIH HHS R01 EB029852NIH HHS F31NS134240NINDS NIH HHS F31 NS134240NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS118442Washington University in St Louis CCSN ProgramWashington University in St Louis Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Neurons in the brain are known to encode diverse information through their spiking activity, primarily reflecting external stimuli and internal states. However, whether individual neurons also embed information about their own anatomical location within their spike patterns remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that machine learning models can predict a neuron's anatomical location across multiple brain regions and structures based solely on its spiking activity. Analyzing high-density recordings from thousands of neurons in awake, behaving mice, we demonstrate that anatomical location can be reliably decoded from neuronal activity across various stimulus conditions, including drifting gratings, naturalistic movies, and spontaneous activity. Crucially, anatomical signatures generalize across animals and even across different research laboratories, suggesting a fundamental principle of neural organization. Examination of trained classifiers reveals that anatomical information is enriched in specific interspike intervals as well as responses to stimuli. Within the visual isocortex, anatomical embedding is robust at the level of layers and primary versus secondary but does not robustly separate individual secondary structures. In contrast, structures within the hippocampus and thalamus are robustly separable based on their spike patterns. Our findings reveal a generalizable dimension of the neural code, where anatomical information is multiplexed with the encoding of external stimuli and internal states. This discovery provides new insights into the relationship between brain structure and function, with broad implications for neurodevelopment, multimodal integration, and the interpretation of large-scale neuronal recordings. Computational approximations of anatomy have the potential to support in vivo electrode localization.

Indexed as

Action PotentialsBrainNeuronsAnimalsMachine LearningMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLModels, NeurologicalBrain regionscomputationdecodingmachine learningmouseneural codeneurosciencespike train

Identifiers

PMID40577195
PMCPMC12204685

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.