A standardized method for brain-cutting suitable for both stereology and MRI-brain co-registration.
We have developed an agar-embedding method for brain-slicing that minimizes the geometrical distortions which arise from handling and slicing the fixed postmortem brain. To facilitate postmortem brain-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) co-registration, each hemisphere is processed separately. We embed the fixed brain hemisphere with reference markers in agar. The block containing the brain and markers is sliced at a fixed interval using a rotary slicer. Each slice is photographed with a high-resolution digital camera. The digital images are realigned as a 3-dimensional volume via a control point-based registration method for multi-slice registration. The realigned multiple slices of the reconstructed postmortem hemisphere are then co-registered to corresponding slices of an in vivo reference MRI-volume. We illustrate these postmortem MRI-brain co-registration methods to correlate in vivo T2-weighted MRI hyperintensities in gray and white matter with underlying pathology. For design-based stereology, the volume of interest (VOI) is defined using reproducible anatomical boundaries. This method is suitable for stereologic measures of structures ranging from defined nuclei to whole brain.
Department of Neurology, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, University of Southern California, Downey, CA 90242, USA. zarow@usc.edu
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D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008867:Microtomy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques / Q000592:standards; D016610:Tissue Embedding / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards