Anterograde tracing (original) (raw)

In neuroscience, anterograde tracing is a research method which is used to trace axonal projections from their source (the cell body or soma) to their point of termination (the synapse). A hallmark of anterograde tracing is the labeling of the presynaptic and the postsynaptic neuron(s). The crossing of the synaptic cleft is a vital difference between the anterograde tracers and the dye fillers used for morphological reconstruction. The complementary technique is retrograde tracing, which is used to trace neural connections from their termination to their source (i.e. synapse to cell body). Both the anterograde and retrograde tracing techniques are based on the visualization of the biological process of axonal transport.