3-Dimensional Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) Atlas of the Rat Brain

Rumple, Ashley; McMurray, Matthew S.; Johns, Josephine M.; Lauder, Jean M.; Makam, Pooja; Radcliffe, Marlana; Oguz, Ipek

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0067334

Cited by 42 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Using a recently published 3D imaging atlas (Rumple et al , 2013), we obtained fractional anisotrophy, diffusion and volume measurements for 32 brain regions (Table S1) As the original 3D atlas of 29 brain regions did not breakout the medial PFC and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) from the neocortex or the striatum from the midbrain, we modified the atlas based upon the boundaries in the 2D atlas of Paxinos and Watson (2005) to include these areas as separate distinct regions. Since there is the potential for false-positives (type 1 error) when performing a large number of tests across datasets (e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Reduces Behavioral Flexibility, Promotes Disinhibition, and Increases Resistance to Extinction of Ethanol Self-Administration in Adulthood

Gass

Glen

McGonigal

et al. 2014

Neuropsychopharmacol

177

172

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The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a brain region that is critically involved in cognitive function and inhibitory control of behavior, and adolescence represents an important period of continued PFC development that parallels the maturation of these functions. Evidence suggests that this period of continued development of the PFC may render it especially vulnerable to environmental insults that impact PFC function in adulthood. Experimentation with alcohol typically begins during adolescence when binge-like consumption of large quantities is common. In the present study, we investigated the effects of repeated cycles of adolescent intermittent ethanol (AIE) exposure (post-natal day 28–42) by vapor inhalation on different aspects of executive functioning in the adult rat. In an operant set-shifting task, AIE exposed rats exhibited deficits in their ability to shift their response strategy when the rules of the task changed, indicating reduced behavioral flexibility. There were no differences in progressive-ratio responding for the reinforcer suggesting that AIE did not alter reinforcer motivation. Examination of performance on the elevated plus maze under conditions designed to minimize stress revealed that AIE exposure enhanced the number of entries into the open arms, which may reflect either reduced anxiety and/or disinhibition of exploratory like behavior. In rats that trained to self-administer ethanol in an operant paradigm, AIE increased resistance to extinction of ethanol-seeking behavior. This resistance to extinction was reversed by positive allosteric modulation of mGluR5 during extinction training, an effect that is thought to reflect promotion of extinction learning mechanisms within the medial PFC. Consistent with this, CDPPB was also observed to reverse the deficits in behavioral flexibility. Finally, diffusion tensor imaging with multivariate analysis of 32 brain areas revealed that while there were no differences in the total brain volume, the volume of a subgroup of regions (hippocampus, thalamus, dorsal striatum, neocortex and hypothalamus) were significantly different in AIE exposed adults compared to litter-matched control rats. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that binge-like exposure to alcohol during early to middle adolescence results in deficits in PFC-mediated behavioral control in adulthood.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Reduces Behavioral Flexibility, Promotes Disinhibition, and Increases Resistance to Extinction of Ethanol Self-Administration in Adulthood

Gass

Glen

McGonigal

et al. 2014

Neuropsychopharmacol

177

172

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“…This approach has produced a series of volumetric atlasing templates for the mouse (Aggarwal et al, 2009; Chuang et al, 2011; Johnson et al, 2010; Kovacevic et al, 2005; Ma et al, 2005; Ma et al, 2008) and rat brain (Johnson et al, 2012; Lu et al, 2010; Nie et al, 2013; Rumple et al, 2013; Schwarz et al, 2006; Schweinhardt et al, 2003; Valdes-Hernandez et al, 2011; Veraart et al, 2011). In MRI/DTI datasets, cranial landmarks are not readily recognizable or not present (skull removed), and thus coordinate systems based on in-brain landmarks have been proposed (Kovacevic et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waxholm Space atlas of the Sprague Dawley rat brain

et al. 2014

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Three-dimensional digital brain atlases represent an important new generation of neuroinformatics tools for understanding complex brain anatomy, assigning location to experimental data, and planning of experiments. We have acquired a microscopic resolution isotropic MRI and DTI atlasing template for the Sprague Dawley rat brain with 39 µm isotropic voxels for the MRI volume and 78 µm isotropic voxels for the DTI. Building on this template, we have delineated 76 major anatomical structures in the brain. Delineation criteria are provided for each structure. We have applied a spatial reference system based on internal brain landmarks according to the Waxholm Space standard, previously developed for the mouse brain, and furthermore connected this spatial reference system to the widely used stereotaxic coordinate system by identifying cranial sutures and related stereotaxic landmarks in the template using contrast given by the active staining technique applied to the tissue. With the release of the present atlasing template and anatomical delineations, we provide a new tool for spatial orientation analysis of neuroanatomical location, and planning and guidance of experimental procedures in the rat brain. The use of Waxholm Space and related infrastructures will connect the atlas to interoperable resources and services for multilevel data integration and analysis across reference spaces.

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“…Images were first rigidly registered to an external template image, in this case the Developmental Rat Atlas (Rumple et al, 2013) generated specifically for this study, which is based on high resolution postmortem images of subjects closely matched in all aspects to the subject population used here. Rigid registration, as opposed to affine or deformable registration methods, was used at this stage to keep the size of the brain constant for the computation of volume and shape statistics.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The obtained transformation was then applied to the Developmental Rat Atlas (Rumple et al, 2013) in order to obtain the population average segmentation. Slices from the final average images are shown in Figure 2.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on early postnatal rodent brain structure and diffusion properties

McMurray

Oguz

Rumple

et al. 2015

Neurotoxicology and Teratology

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Prenatal cocaine exposure has been associated with numerous behavioral phenotypes in clinical populations, including impulsivity, reduced attention, alterations in social behaviors, and delayed language and sensory-motor development. Detecting associated changes in brain structure in these populations has proven difficult, and results have been inconclusive and inconsistent. Due to their more controlled designs, animal models may shed light on the neuroanatomical changes caused by prenatal cocaine; however, to maximize clinical relevance data must be carefully collected using translational methods. The goal of this study was two-fold: 1) determine if prenatal cocaine alters developmental neuroanatomy using methods that are available to human researchers, specifically structural MRI and diffusion tensor imaging; and 2) to determine the feasibility of rodent in vivo neuroimaging for usage in longitudinal studies of developmental disorders. Cocaine-exposed (prenatal days 1–20, 30mg/kg/day) rat pups were sedated and imaged live using diffusion tensor imaging and postmortem (fixed) using magnetic resonance histology on postnatal day 14. Volume and diffusion properties in whole brain as well as specific regions of interest were then assessed from the resulting images. Whole brain analyses revealed that cocaine-exposed animals showed no change in whole brain volume. Additionally, we found alterations in fractional anisotropy across regions associated with reward processing and emotional regulation, especially in the thalamus and globus palladus, as well as sex-dependent effects of cocaine in the right cortex. Reductions in fractional anisotropy were paired with reductions only in axial diffusivity, which preliminarily suggests that the changes observed here may be due to axonal damage, as opposed to reductions in myelination of the affected regions/pathways. Our data indicate that prenatal cocaine may target a number of developing brain structures, but does not result in overt changes to brain volumes. These results highlight not only the brain alterations that result from prenatal cocaine, but also the advancements in live imaging that allow longitudinal study designs in other models.

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3-Dimensional Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) Atlas of the Rat Brain

Cited by 42 publications

References 22 publications

Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Reduces Behavioral Flexibility, Promotes Disinhibition, and Increases Resistance to Extinction of Ethanol Self-Administration in Adulthood

Adolescent Alcohol Exposure Reduces Behavioral Flexibility, Promotes Disinhibition, and Increases Resistance to Extinction of Ethanol Self-Administration in Adulthood

Waxholm Space atlas of the Sprague Dawley rat brain

Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on early postnatal rodent brain structure and diffusion properties

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