Population based MRI and DTI templates of the adult ferret brain and tools for voxelwise analysis.
Non-invasive imaging has the potential to play a crucial role in the characterization and translation of experimental animal models to investigate human brain development and disorders, especially when employed to study animal models that more accurately represent features of human neuroanatomy. The purpose of this study was to build and make available MRI and DTI templates and analysis tools for the ferret brain as the ferret is a well-suited species for pre-clinical MRI studies with folded cortical surface, relatively high white matter volume and body dimensions that allow imaging with pre-clinical MRI scanners. Four ferret brain templates were built in this study - in-vivo MRI and DTI and ex-vivo MRI and DTI - using brain images across many ferrets and region of interest (ROI) masks corresponding to established ferret neuroanatomy were generated by semi-automatic and manual segmentation. The templates and ROI masks were used to create a web-based ferret brain viewing software for browsing the MRI and DTI volumes with annotations based on the ROI masks. A second objective of this study was to provide a careful description of the imaging methods used for acquisition, processing, registration and template building and to demonstrate several voxelwise analysis methods including Jacobian analysis of morphometry differences between the female and male brain and bias-free identification of DTI abnormalities in an injured ferret brain. The templates, tools and methodological optimization presented in this study are intended to advance non-invasive imaging approaches for human-similar animal species that will enable the use of pre-clinical MRI studies for understanding and treating brain disorders.
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: elizabeth.hutchinson@nih.gov.
E B
EB
Hutchinson
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
S C
SC
Schwerin
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
K L
KL
Radomski
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
N
N
Sadeghi
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C., USA.
J
J
Jenkins
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA.
M E
ME
Komlosh
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD, USA.
M O
MO
Irfanoglu
Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
S L
SL
Juliano
Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Science, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
C
C
Pierpaoli
D000818:Animals; D001271:Atlases as Topic; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005289:Ferrets / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D012984:Software; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
Atlas; DTI; Ferret; Neuroanatomy; Template; Voxelwise