A population MRI brain template and analysis tools for the macaque

Jakob Seidlitz; Caleb Sponheim; Daniel Glen; Frank Q Ye; Kadharbatcha S Saleem; David A Leopold; Leslie Ungerleider; Adam Messinger

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.063

A population MRI brain template and analysis tools for the macaque

Neuroimage. 2018 Apr 15:170:121-131. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.063. Epub 2017 Apr 28.

Authors

Jakob Seidlitz¹, Caleb Sponheim², Daniel Glen³, Frank Q Ye⁴, Kadharbatcha S Saleem⁵, David A Leopold⁶, Leslie Ungerleider², Adam Messinger²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Developmental Neurogenomics Unit, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK. Electronic address: jakob.seidlitz@nih.gov.
² Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
³ Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
⁴ Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
⁵ Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
⁶ Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

Abstract

The use of standard anatomical templates is common in human neuroimaging, as it facilitates data analysis and comparison across subjects and studies. For non-human primates, previous in vivo templates have lacked sufficient contrast to reliably validate known anatomical brain regions and have not provided tools for automated single-subject processing. Here we present the "National Institute of Mental Health Macaque Template", or NMT for short. The NMT is a high-resolution in vivo MRI template of the average macaque brain generated from 31 subjects, as well as a neuroimaging tool for improved data analysis and visualization. From the NMT volume, we generated maps of tissue segmentation and cortical thickness. Surface reconstructions and transformations to previously published digital brain atlases are also provided. We further provide an analysis pipeline using the NMT that automates and standardizes the time-consuming processes of brain extraction, tissue segmentation, and morphometric feature estimation for anatomical scans of individual subjects. The NMT and associated tools thus provide a common platform for precise single-subject data analysis and for characterizations of neuroimaging results across subjects and studies.

Keywords: Atlas; MRI; Macaque; Segmentation; Template; Vasculature.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / anatomy & histology*
Brain / blood supply
Brain / diagnostic imaging*
Female
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
Macaca / anatomy & histology*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Neuroimaging / methods*

Grants and funding

Z99 MH999999/ImNIH/Intramural NIH HHS/United States