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. 2014 Sep 25;9(9):e107650.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0107650. eCollection 2014.

An in vivo three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging-based averaged brain collection of the neonatal piglet (Sus scrofa)

Matthew S Conrad  1 , Bradley P Sutton  2 , Ryan N Dilger  3 , Rodney W Johnson  4
Affiliations

An in vivo three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging-based averaged brain collection of the neonatal piglet (Sus scrofa)

Matthew S Conrad et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Due to the fact that morphology and perinatal growth of the piglet brain is similar to humans, use of the piglet as a translational animal model for neurodevelopmental studies is increasing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be a powerful tool to study neurodevelopment in piglets, but many of the MRI resources have been produced for adult humans. Here, we present an average in vivo MRI-based atlas specific for the 4-week-old piglet. In addition, we have developed probabilistic tissue classification maps. These tools can be used with brain mapping software packages (e.g. SPM and FSL) to aid in voxel-based morphometry and image analysis techniques. The atlas enables efficient study of neurodevelopment in a highly tractable translational animal with brain growth and development similar to humans.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Location of origin for the atlas. Sagittal, coronal, and axial views of the origin location for the atlas.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Comparison of an individual MRI data set and the atlas.
The axial slices are from −18 mm to 18 mm in 6 mm increments. The top row is a representative individual case and the bottom row is the atlas.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Tissue probability maps.
Coronal slices through the origin showing the atlas T1 image, gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tissue probability maps. The maps have been smoothed with a 1 mm FWHM Gaussian filter.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Regions of interest.
Sagittal, coronal, and axial slices through the origin showing manually drawn regions of interest.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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