Automatically detecting bregma and lambda points in rodent skull anatomy images

PLoS One. 2020 Dec 29;15(12):e0244378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244378. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Currently, injection sites of probes, cannula, and optic fibers in stereotactic neurosurgery are typically located manually. This step involves location estimations based on human experiences and thus introduces errors. In order to reduce localization error and improve repeatability of experiments and treatments, we investigate an automated method to locate injection sites. This paper proposes a localization framework, which integrates a region-based convolutional network and a fully convolutional network, to locate specific anatomical points on skulls of rodents. Experiment results show that the proposed localization framework is capable of identifying and locatin bregma and lambda in rodent skull anatomy images with mean errors less than 300 μm. This method is robust to different lighting conditions and mouse orientations, and has the potential to simplify the procedure of locating injection sites.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Models, Animal
  • Neural Networks, Computer
  • Skull / anatomy & histology*
  • Skull / diagnostic imaging
  • Stereotaxic Techniques / instrumentation

Grants and funding

Yes-Shiva Abbaszadeh received funding from Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute Research Program-https://zjui.illinois.edu/research The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.