Connection, a microcomputer program for storing and analyzing structural properties of neural circuits

The application of a microcomputer-based system (the Connection system) designed to deal with neuroanatomical information commonly analyzed by researchers and involved in the study of structural properties of neural circuits is presented. This system can be employed at first as a readily-accessible database containing physiological and anatomical data from nuclei of the central nervous system which define a network with up to 45 elements and their subdivisions and connections. Once the database from a specific network is built and stored in a file, routines of this system can be used to classify the nuclei in term of their afferents and efferents and also to display all possible pathways linking any pair of nuclei and their respective length (number of synapses). The role of such a system as an auxiliary tool in neuroanatomical and electrophysiological research is discussed by presenting the results obtained from the analysis of the neural circuits involved in cardiovascular function control in higher vertebrates.