Towards a comprehensive atlas of cortical connections in a primate brain: Mapping tracer injection studies of the common marmoset into a reference digital template

Majka, P., Chaplin, T. A., Yu, H. H., Tolpygo, A., Mitra, P. P., Wojcik, D. K., Rosa, M. G. (August 2016) Towards a comprehensive atlas of cortical connections in a primate brain: Mapping tracer injection studies of the common marmoset into a reference digital template. J Comp Neurol, 524 (11). pp. 2161-2181. ISSN 1096-9861 (Electronic)0021-9967 (Linking)

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27099164
DOI: 10.1002/cne.24023

Abstract

The marmoset is an emerging animal model for large-scale attempts to understand primate brain connectivity, but achieving this aim requires the development and validation of procedures for normalization and integration of results from many neuroanatomical experiments. Here we describe a computational pipeline for co-registration of retrograde tracing data on connections of cortical areas into a 3-dimensional marmoset brain template, generated from Nissl-stained sections. The procedure results in a series of spatial transformations that are applied to the coordinates of labeled neurons in the different cases, bringing them into common stereotaxic space. We have applied this procedure to 17 injections, placed in the frontal lobe of 9 marmosets as part of earlier studies. Visualizations of cortical patterns of connections revealed by these injections are supplied as supplementary materials. Comparison between the results of the automated and human-based processing of these cases reveals that the centers of injection sites can be reconstructed, on average, to within 0.6 mm of coordinates estimated by an experienced neuroanatomist. Moreover, cell counts obtained in different areas by the automated approach are highly correlated (r = 0.83) with those obtained by an expert, who examined in detail histological sections for each individual. The present procedure enables comparison and visualization of large data sets, which in turn opens the way for integration and analysis of results from many animals. Its versatility, including applicability to archival materials, may reduce the number of additional experiments required to produce the first detailed cortical connectome of a primate brain. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nissl staining brain template cerebral cortex digital atlas image registration marmoset neuroanatomical tracing
Subjects: Investigative techniques and equipment > brain atlas
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > cerebral cortex
Investigative techniques and equipment > Whole Brain Circuit Mapping
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Mitra lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 1 August 2016
Date Deposited: 26 Apr 2016 19:24
Last Modified: 11 Aug 2016 14:36
PMCID: PMC4892968
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/32616

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