title: A deformable atlas of the laboratory mouse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper presents a deformable mouse atlas of the laboratory mouse anatomy. This atlas is fully articulated and can be positioned into arbitrary body poses. The atlas can also adapt body weight by changing body length and fat amount.
  
  
  METHODS
  A training set of 103 micro-CT images was used to construct the atlas. A cage-based deformation method was applied to realize the articulated pose change. The weight-related body deformation was learned from the training set using a linear regression method. A conditional Gaussian model and thin-plate spline mapping were used to deform the internal organs following the changes of pose and weight.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The atlas was deformed into different body poses and weights, and the deformation results were more realistic compared to the results achieved with other mouse atlases. The organ weights of this atlas matched well with the measurements of real mouse organ weights. This atlas can also be converted into voxelized images with labeled organs, pseudo CT images and tetrahedral mesh for phantom studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With the unique ability of articulated pose and weight changes, the deformable laboratory mouse atlas can become a valuable tool for preclinical image analysis.
authors.affiliation: Crump Institute of Molecular Imaging, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, wang.hongkai@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hongkai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Stout
authors.forename: Arion F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Chatziioannou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D001835:Body Weight; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000737:chemistry; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D051379:Mice; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D016011:Normal Distribution; D009929:Organ Size; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D055114:X-Ray Microtomography
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media