MRI-guided dissection of the nonhuman primate brain: a case study.
Numerous biochemical as well as electrophysiological techniques require tissue that must be retrieved very quickly following death in order to preserve the physiological integrity of the neuronal environment. Therefore, the ability to accurately predict the precise locations of brain regions of interest (ROI) and to retrieve those areas as quickly as possible following the brain harvest is critical for subsequent analyses. One way to achieve this objective is the utilization of high-resolution MRI to guide the subsequent dissections. In the present study, individual MRI images of the brains of rhesus and cynomolgus macaques that had chronically self-administered ethanol were employed in order to determine which blocks of dissected tissue contained specific ROIs. MRI-guided brain dissection of discrete brain regions was completely accurate in 100% of the cases. In comparison, approximately 60-70% accuracy was achieved in dissections that relied on external landmarks alone without the aid of MRI. These results clearly demonstrate that the accuracy of targeting specific brain areas can be improved with high-resolution MR imaging.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. jdaunais@wfubmc.edu
James Bernard
JB
Daunais
Robert Arthur
RA
Kraft
April Teresa
AT
Davenport
Elizabeth J
EJ
Burnett
Vicki Moser
VM
Maxey
Kendall Thomas
KT
Szeliga
Andrew Ryan
AR
Rau
Graham Stallard
GS
Flory
Scott Edwards
SE
Hemby
Christopher David
CD
Kroenke
Kathleen Alice
KA
Grant
David Paul
DP
Friedman
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004210:Dissection / Q000379:methods; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods
D000431:Ethanol