TY - JOUR
T1 - Fractals in the neurosciences, part I
T2 - General principles and basic neurosciences
AU - Di Ieva, Antonio
AU - Grizzi, Fabio
AU - Jelinek, Herbert
AU - Pellionisz, Andras J.
AU - Losa, Gabriele Angelo
PY - 2014/8
Y1 - 2014/8
N2 - The natural complexity of the brain, its hierarchical structure, and the sophisticated topological architecture of the neurons organized in micronetworks and macronetworks are all factors contributing to the limits of the application of Euclidean geometry and linear dynamics to the neurosciences. The introduction of fractal geometry for the quantitative analysis and description of the geometric complexity of natural systems has been a major paradigm shift in the last decades. Nowadays, modern neurosciences admit the prevalence of fractal properties such as self-similarity in the brain at various levels of observation, from the microscale to the macroscale, in molecular, anatomic, functional, and pathological perspectives. Fractal geometry is a mathematical model that offers a universal language for the quantitative description of neurons and glial cells as well as the brain as a whole, with its complex three-dimensional structure, in all its physiopathological spectrums. For a holistic view of fractal geometry of the brain, we review here the basic concepts of fractal analysis and its main applications to the basic neurosciences.
AB - The natural complexity of the brain, its hierarchical structure, and the sophisticated topological architecture of the neurons organized in micronetworks and macronetworks are all factors contributing to the limits of the application of Euclidean geometry and linear dynamics to the neurosciences. The introduction of fractal geometry for the quantitative analysis and description of the geometric complexity of natural systems has been a major paradigm shift in the last decades. Nowadays, modern neurosciences admit the prevalence of fractal properties such as self-similarity in the brain at various levels of observation, from the microscale to the macroscale, in molecular, anatomic, functional, and pathological perspectives. Fractal geometry is a mathematical model that offers a universal language for the quantitative description of neurons and glial cells as well as the brain as a whole, with its complex three-dimensional structure, in all its physiopathological spectrums. For a holistic view of fractal geometry of the brain, we review here the basic concepts of fractal analysis and its main applications to the basic neurosciences.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84904324809&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1073858413513927
DO - 10.1177/1073858413513927
M3 - Review article
C2 - 24362815
AN - SCOPUS:84904324809
SN - 1073-8584
VL - 20
SP - 403
EP - 417
JO - Neuroscientist
JF - Neuroscientist
IS - 4
ER -