The goal of the project is to develop a fully digital package including three dimensional (3D) probabilistic atlas, brain and head coordinate systems and toolkits for invasive procedure guidance and data analysis. Atlas of macaque (Macaca mulatta) will be made. Atlases have been playing central roles for neurobiological studies on primate brains. Compared to conventional atlas, the proposed 3D digital probabilistic MRI atlas provides (1) accurate in vivo anatomical frame without distortion or shrinkage carried by histological slide, (2) 2D slice with arbitrary orientation, (3) digital format to facilitate data mapping, (4) probabilistic data to be more representative and (5) toolkits for surgery guidance and data analysis. The accuracy of labeling will be checked with cortical surface geometry and white matter fiber tractography as criteria. This digital package will be freely distributed to facilitate the neurobiological studies on primates. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance microimaging will be used to set up the MRI atlas with high resolution and high contrasts. High contrasts and high resolution stem from diffusion tensor imaging and microimaging, respectively. Based on the digital atlas, pre-experiment surgery guidance toolkit and post-experiment data analysis toolkit will be developed and incorporated into a single user-friendly platform. Development of technologies and databases will be focused on through the four aims. First, high quality ex vivo and in vivo data will be acquired and the ex-in vivo data will be registered. Second, most of the gray and white matter neural structures will be labeled and segmented. Third, probabilistic atlas and labeling will be established by transforming the brain images to a template. Fourth, a platform for guidance of invasive procedure and analysis of the experimental data will be developed. The probabilistic atlas is the key and central part of the proposal. It provides the database in the digital package. Brain and head coordinates will be built up to standardize structure-location relationship system. With the atlas and coordinate systems, two toolkits provide the convenient and practical means for primate researchers to use the atlas.
The proposed three-dimensional digital probabilistic atlas of primates will provide an accurate, comprehensive and evolving digital account about the brain structure of primates. The toolkits developed to guide the surgery procedure and map the experimental data will bring precision, convenience and efficiency to facilitate the studies of primate brain function. And the understanding of human brain function will also be greatly enhanced because of the close relationship between primate brain and that of human.
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