title: A statistical parametric mapping toolbox used for voxel-wise analysis of FDG-PET images of rat brain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  PET (positron emission tomography) imaging researches of functional metabolism using fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) of animal brain are important in neuroscience studies. FDG-PET imaging studies are often performed on groups of rats, so it is desirable to establish an objective voxel-based statistical methodology for group data analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study establishes a statistical parametric mapping (SPM) toolbox (plug-ins) named spmratIHEP for voxel-wise analysis of FDG-PET images of rat brain, in which an FDG-PET template and an intracranial mask image of rat brain in Paxinos & Watson space were constructed, and the default settings were modified according to features of rat brain. Compared to previous studies, our constructed rat brain template comprises not only the cerebrum and cerebellum, but also the whole olfactory bulb which made the later cognitive studies much more exhaustive. And with an intracranial mask image in the template space, the brain tissues of individuals could be extracted automatically. Moreover, an atlas space is used for anatomically labeling the functional findings in the Paxinos & Watson space. In order to standardize the template image with the atlas accurately, a synthetic FDG-PET image with six main anatomy structures is constructed from the atlas, which performs as a target image in the co-registration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The spatial normalization procedure is evaluated, by which the individual rat brain images could be standardized into the Paxinos & Watson space successfully and the intracranial tissues could also be extracted accurately. The practical usability of this toolbox is evaluated using FDG-PET functional images from rats with left side middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in comparison to normal control rats. And the two-sample t-test statistical result is almost related to the left side MCA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We established a toolbox of SPM8 named spmratIHEP for voxel-wise analysis of FDG-PET images of rat brain.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Binbin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Banner Good Samaritan Positron Emission Tomography Center, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America; Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America; Department of Radiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America; Arizona Alzheimer's Consortium, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kewei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Family Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Nuclear Analysis Techniques, Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Baoci
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shan
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D051381:Rats; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18