Elsevier is delighted to announce the latest winner of the Brain Research Best Cover Award in 2009 receiving a prize of US$ 1000.

Immunohistochemical characterization and quantitative analysis of neurons in the myenteric plexus of the equine intestine (Fig. 3B)
Christiane Freytag, Johannes Seeger, Thomas Siegemund, Jens Grosche, Astrid Grosche, David E. Freeman, Gerald F. Schusser and Wolfgang Härtig 
Volume 1244, 9 December 2008, pp. 53-64

The image belongs to a study focused on the chemoarchitecture of the myenteric plexus in equine whole mounts. This work contributes to a more detailed knowledge of the chemical neuroanatomy which might facilitate a better understanding of pathological alterations in the gastro-intestinal tract of horses.

The presented carbocyanine (Cy) triple immunofluorescence labelling shows the pan-neuronal marker HuC/D (Cy3, red) combined with the marker enzymes for cholinergic neurons (choline acetyltransferase; Cy5, colour-coded in blue) and nitrergic nerve cells (nitric oxide synthase; Cy2 green). Confocal laser-scanning microscopy with a LSM 510 Meta (Zeiss) also reveals the co-expression of markers, for instance, purple cells are cholinergic and yellow-appearing cells are nitrergic, whereas white structures co-express all three markers. Triple-stained tissues allow one to characterize neural plexus, e.g., by counting the entire neuronal population and neuronal subpopulations.

The Award

The Editors of Brain Research invite authors to submit visually and scientifically interesting artwork that represents the subject matter of their article, as potential cover illustrations. Such graphical images should be related to the article, but need not necessarily be one of the figures appearing in that article.

The selection of illustrations for the cover is at the discretion of the Editors; only those related to articles accepted for publication will be considered.

At the end of each year, all published covers will automatically qualify to take part in a competition for the year's best cover illustration, and will be judged on their aesthetic value and scientific interest. The winner will receive a prize of US$ 1000.

Information on the preparation and submission of cover images can be found in the journal’s   Guide for Authors.