title: A three-dimensional digital atlas of the starling brain.
abstract: Because of their sophisticated vocal behaviour, their social nature, their high plasticity and their robustness, starlings have become an important model species that is widely used in studies of neuroethology of song production and perception. Since magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) represents an increasingly relevant tool for comparative neuroscience, a 3D MRI-based atlas of the starling brain becomes essential. Using multiple imaging protocols we delineated several sensory systems as well as the song control system. This starling brain atlas can easily be used to determine the stereotactic location of identified neural structures at any angle of the head. Additionally, the atlas is useful to find the optimal angle of sectioning for slice experiments, stereotactic injections and electrophysiological recordings. The starling brain atlas is freely available for the scientific community.
authors.affiliation: Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium. geert.degroof@uantwerp.be.
authors.forename: Geert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Groof
authors.affiliation: UMR6552-Ethologie Animale Et Humaine, Université Rennes 1-CNRS, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium.|UMR6552-Ethologie Animale Et Humaine, Université Rennes 1-CNRS, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Touj
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stacho
authors.affiliation: Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jonckers
authors.affiliation: UMR6552-Ethologie Animale Et Humaine, Université Rennes 1-CNRS, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cousillas
authors.affiliation: UMR6552-Ethologie Animale Et Humaine, Université Rennes 1-CNRS, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hausberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Biopsychology, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780, Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Güntürkün
authors.affiliation: Bio-Imaging Lab, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Annemie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van der Linden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001271:Atlases as Topic; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D046749:Starlings / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
keywords: Brain atlas; European starling; High-field MRI; Song control system; Songbird