Comparative Study of the Major White Matter Tracts Anatomy in Equine, Feline and Canine Brains by Use of the Fibre Dissection Technique

Abstract

The spatial anatomy of the white matter tracts is a subject of growing interest not only for researchers but also for clinicians. Imagistic methods have some limitations so that they should be confronted with dissection studies. The aim of this paper was to provide a three-dimensional view of the major white matter tracts in equine, feline and canine brains by use of the fibre dissection technique. Twenty cerebral hemispheres (six equine, four feline and 10 canine brains) were prepared according to the Klingler method. Stepwise mediolateral and lateromedial blunt dissections were performed using wooden sticks and spatulas. The lateromedial dissection was followed by the opening of the lateral ventricle. The use of the same multi-stage procedures resulted in a comparable exposure of the major association, projection and commissural fibres and their spatial relation with the lateral ventricle. To conclude, the proposed techniques are reproducible in equine, feline and canine brains and they can be successfully used for teaching, training or research in the field of neurobiology.

The geometry of the circle of willis anatomical variants as a potential cerebrovascular risk factor

“…Since our study was conducted on cadaver brains without cerebrovascular pathology, a direct link between the modified geometry and the appearance of neurological pathology could not be demonstrated. However, we developed a risk assessment method that can be used in prospective studies with animal models (34,35) or imaging data from human subjects, which may be useful to prove this connection. Nevertheless, recognizing the anatomical variant (15,31) or building a brain perfusion and wall shear stress model according to our method-which is quite simple and does not require any expensive software-could indirectly guide the clinician toward potential cerebrovascular risks when facing a patient with a specific anatomical variant.…”

Fibre Dissection and Sectional Study of the Major Porcine Cerebral White Matter Tracts

“…The Klingler method has the advantage of preserving the spatial anatomy (Dini et al., ; Yaman et al., ; Zemmoura et al., ) because it does not require force or cuts. It has also been proved to be reproducible with some adjustments in animal anatomy (Yaman et al., ; Pascalau et al., ). On the other hand, the sectional study gives a lot of details about the anatomical relations, which are extremely important.…”

“…As a result, some of the white matter tracts illustrated in this study could not have been compared with other images of the pig brain so that they were only compared with fibre dissection or DTI images from other species (Jacqmot et al., ; Yaman et al., ; Anaya Garcia et al., ; Pascalau et al., ). Comissura rostralis, tractus mamillothalamicus and long‐association tracts like fasciculus longitudinalis superior, fasciculus uncinatus, fascicuus longitudinalis inferior and cingulum have very similar shape and position with the equine, bovine, canine and feline ones.…”

“…Two stepwise dissection protocols (Fig. ) previously adapted from human anatomy by our research group (Pascalau et al., ) were performed each on three hemispheres. Wooden spatulas and 10×–20× magnifying loops were used to remove the grey matter structures (the cortex, the thalamus and some of the basal ganglia, which become very friable after freezing) and to separate the adjacent white matter tracts according to the cleavage planes that have been created by the ice crystals during the preparation.…”

Preparación de Hemisferios Cerebrales para Disección de Tractos

“…Los trabajos de preparación de los cerebros realizados siguiendo estrictamente la técnica original de Klingler (Ludwig & Klingler) han permitido la identificación de estructuras profundas como las radiaciones ópticas, la cápsula interna, el tracto subcallosal, las partes del fascículo longitudinal superior y otros. Sin embargo, el 80 % de los hemisferios utilizados para la disección de tractos fueron sumergidos en formalina al 10 %, y en esta concentración, el tiempo de fijación varía entre 40 y 180 días con cerebros de porcino, canino, equino, felino y bovino (Pascalau et al, 2016;Yaman et al, 2014), y con cerebros humanos desde 90 días (Vergani et al, 2014), 60 días (Türe et al;Verhaeghe et al, 2017), 40 días (Martino et al, 2010(Martino et al, , 2011(Martino et al, , 2013aDe Benedictis et al, 2012Sarubbo et al, 2013;Wu et al, 2016), 30 días (Ebeling & von Cramon, 1992;Peuskens et al, 2004;Pérez et al;Maldonado et al;Shah et al;Ribas et al;Yagmurlu et al, 2015;Silva & Andrade, 2016;Goryainov et al, 2017;Pascalau et al, 2018), 21 días (Baydin et al, 2017) y 10 días (Latini et al, 2017). En este último caso, se utilizó la técnica de perfusion carotídea de formalina al 12 % para la fijación cerebral, lo cual, según los autores, reduce el riesgo de deformación o alteración del cerebro al momento de la extracción.…”