A three-dimensional stereotaxic atlas of the gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) brain

Abstract

The gray short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) is a small marsupial gaining recognition as a laboratory animal in biomedical research. Despite numerous studies on opossum neuroanatomy, a consistent and comprehensive neuroanatomical reference for this species is still missing. Here we present the first three-dimensional, multimodal atlas of the Monodelphis opossum brain. It is based on four complementary imaging modalities: high resolution ex vivo magnetic resonance images, micro-computed tomography scans of the cranium, images of the face of the cutting block, and series of sections stained with the Nissl method and for myelinated fibers. Individual imaging modalities were reconstructed into a three-dimensional form and then registered to the MR image by means of affine and deformable registration routines. Based on a superimposition of the 3D images, 113 anatomical structures were demarcated and the volumes of individual regions were measured. The stereotaxic coordinate system was defined using a set of cranial landmarks: interaural line, bregma, and lambda, which allows for easy expression of any location within the brain with respect to the skull. The atlas is released under the Creative Commons license and available through various digital atlasing web services.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00429-017-1540-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Enhanced and unified anatomical labeling for a common mouse brain atlas

“…Anatomical delineation of the brain is critical for elucidation of the anatomical and functional organization of the brain across species 1–5 . Whole brain anatomical atlases provide a spatial framework for examining, interpreting, and comparing experimental data from different studies.…”

A three-dimensional digital neurological atlas of the mustached bat (Pteronotus parnellii)

“…Traditional brain atlases are based on histological sections with drawings of boundaries of structures and annotations (Franklin and Paxinos, 2012; Paxinos and Watson, 2014; Scalia et al, 2013). Currently, three-dimensional, digital MRI atlases are available for fish (Simoes et al, 2012; Ullmann et al, 2010), rodents (Bowden et al, 2011; Calabrese et al, 2013; Dorr et al, 2008; Johnson et al, 2012; Paxinos et al, 2015; Rumple et al, 2013; Valdes-Hernandez et al, 2011; Veraart et al, 2011), marsupials (Majka et al, 2013), songbirds and other aves (De Groof et al, 2016; Gunturkun et al, 2013; Poirier et al, 2008; Vellema et al, 2011), as well as humans and other primates (Bakker et al, 2015; Calabrese et al, 2015; Fan et al, 2016; Rohlfing et al, 2012). Detailed MRI-based atlases exist for regions of the mouse brain such as the basal ganglia (Ullmann et al, 2014) and diencephalon (Watson et al, 2017).…”

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“…The strategy of using the blockface images to serve as a reference for histological slice deformations was adopted by other high-throughput brain atlasing projects. For instance, this technique was adopted for human brains (BigBrain project) [118], for rodent brains [136], for opossum brains [148], and for common marmoset brains [135]. The blockface photography used in these projects could be replaced by other more informative intrinsic imaging modalities, such as autofluorescence or OCT.…”

“…Thus, keeping track of the precise position of an acquired brain within the animal skull would enable neuroscientists to access the serial histological data more reliably. To address this question, Majka et al [148] acquired micro-computed tomography and ex vivo anatomical MRI before histology and then performed a multimodal registration of the histological data onto these pre-acquired volumes. A similar multimodal imaging pipeline could be adopted for whole rodent brain imaging with SBH.…”