The cerebral cortex underwent a remarkable expansion in human evolution and is, by far, the largest part of the human brain. In order to facilitate research into cortical function, we propose to create, test, streamline, and make user-friendly a new cortical mapping system designed to preserve the physical layout of the cerebral cortex, which is most accurately described as a thin, folded, two-dimensional sheet. Most previous methods have mapped the cerebral cortex and other brain structures using a volume-based system with three coordinates for each point instead of two. Volume-based systems are straightforward to apply, and they generalize to non-cortical structures. However, there are a number of fundamental advantages to using a surface-based system for mapping the cerebral cortex. Preliminary results indicate that surface-based mapping yields improved inter subject comparisons. In addition, it enables many new surface-based computations as well as providing a unified, user-comprehensible way to display the constantly growing and paradigmatically diverse corpus of brain imaging data. To make it possible to exploit the advantages of both two- and three-dimensional approaches, we show how to generate a precise mapping between these two systems. We demonstrate many of the components of the proposed surface-based analysis and visualization software to show that most of the ideas are already prototyped. A number of our recent papers using this software further illustrate its usefulness in brain-mapping. In this proposal, we first plan to automate, optimize, and validate our existing software, while expanding a surface-based brain mapping database. The database will consist of (1) structural magnetic resonance images and cortical surface reconstructions made from them, and (2) functional magnetic resonance images analyzed in a surface-based framework both taken from the same normal human subjects. This database will be used to construct an averaged """"""""canonical"""""""" human cortical surface, with much less """"""""blurriness"""""""" than current 3-D-averaged brains. This database will also be used to implement and validate a novel 2-D latitude and longitude coordinate system for the unfolded cortical surface. The software tools will be ported to several platforms, including SGI, Sun and PC (Linux), in order to facilitate their dissemination to the wider scientific community.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS039581-02
Application #
6188711
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDA1-MXS-M (28))
Program Officer
Talley, Edmund M
Project Start
1999-08-20
Project End
2003-07-31
Budget Start
2000-08-01
Budget End
2001-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$214,557
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199
White, Nathan S; McDonald, Carrie; McDonald, Carrie R et al. (2014) Diffusion-weighted imaging in cancer: physical foundations and applications of restriction spectrum imaging. Cancer Res 74:4638-52
Walhovd, Kristine B; Westlye, Lars T; Amlien, Inge et al. (2011) Consistent neuroanatomical age-related volume differences across multiple samples. Neurobiol Aging 32:916-32
Rimol, Lars M; Panizzon, Matthew S; Fennema-Notestine, Christine et al. (2010) Cortical thickness is influenced by regionally specific genetic factors. Biol Psychiatry 67:493-9
Fjell, Anders M; Westlye, Lars T; Espeseth, Thomas et al. (2010) Cortical gray matter atrophy in healthy aging cannot be explained by undetected incipient cognitive disorders: a comment on Burgmans et al. (2009). Neuropsychology 24:258-63; discussion 264-266
Westlye, Lars T; Walhovd, Kristine B; Dale, Anders M et al. (2009) Increased sensitivity to effects of normal aging and Alzheimer's disease on cortical thickness by adjustment for local variability in gray/white contrast: a multi-sample MRI study. Neuroimage 47:1545-57
Fjell, Anders M; Westlye, Lars T; Amlien, Inge et al. (2009) High consistency of regional cortical thinning in aging across multiple samples. Cereb Cortex 19:2001-12
Fjell, Anders M; Westlye, Lars T; Amlien, Inge et al. (2009) Minute effects of sex on the aging brain: a multisample magnetic resonance imaging study of healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease. J Neurosci 29:8774-83
Salat, David H; Greve, Douglas N; Pacheco, Jennifer L et al. (2009) Regional white matter volume differences in nondemented aging and Alzheimer's disease. Neuroimage 44:1247-58
Knake, Susanne; Salat, David H; Halgren, Eric et al. (2009) Changes in white matter microstructure in patients with TLE and hippocampal sclerosis. Epileptic Disord 11:244-50
Fjell, Anders M; Westlye, Lars T; Greve, Doug N et al. (2008) The relationship between diffusion tensor imaging and volumetry as measures of white matter properties. Neuroimage 42:1654-68

Showing the most recent 10 out of 37 publications