In-vivo cortical thickness estimation from high-resolution T<sub>1</sub>w MRI scans in healthy and mucopolysaccharidosis affected dogs

Labounek, René; Mai, Khoi; Mueller, Bryon A.; Ellinwood, N. Matthew; Dickson, Patricia I.; Nestrašil, Igor

doi:10.1109/embc.2019.8856826

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…= 0.7 mm; electronic supplementary material, figures S2–S10). The mean cortical thickness was relatively close to that of harbour seals (2 mm range [19]), canines (2–3 mm range [25]) and humans ( M = 2.5 mm [15]). The grey seal brains observed here (electronic supplementary material, figures S2–S10) and the harbour seal brains examined in previous studies showed high variation in both total cortical thickness across cortical areas (e.g.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Hoeksema

Verga

Mengede

et al. 2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comparative animal studies of complex behavioural traits, and their neurobiological underpinnings, can increase our understanding of their evolution, including in humans. Vocal learning, a potential precursor to human speech, is one such trait. Mammalian vocal learning is under-studied: most research has either focused on vocal learning in songbirds or its absence in non-human primates. Here, we focus on a highly promising model species for the neurobiology of vocal learning: grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus ). We provide a neuroanatomical atlas (based on dissected brain slices and magnetic resonance images), a labelled MRI template, a three-dimensional model with volumetric measurements of brain regions, and histological cortical stainings. Four main features of the grey seal brain stand out: (i) it is relatively big and highly convoluted; (ii) it hosts a relatively large temporal lobe and cerebellum; (iii) the cortex is similar to that of humans in thickness and shows the expected six-layered mammalian structure; (iv) there is expression of FoxP2 present in deeper layers of the cortex; FoxP2 is a gene involved in motor learning, vocal learning, and spoken language. Our results could facilitate future studies targeting the neural and genetic underpinnings of mammalian vocal learning, thus bridging the research gap from songbirds to humans and non-human primates. Our findings are relevant not only to vocal learning research but also to the study of mammalian neurobiology and cognition more in general. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vocal learning in animals and humans’.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Hoeksema

Verga

Mengede

et al. 2021

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For some species in particular, such as dogs, brain extraction is still either performed manually 48,49 , or in a semi-automatic way. BET is used as preliminary step, then the resulting masks are manually corrected by an expert 50,51 . Recent studies still claim that no trustworthy brain extraction tool exists for dogs, and manual or semi-automatic segmentation is still www.nature.com/scientificreports/ the only reliable and accurate existing strategy 18 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic brain extraction and brain tissues segmentation on multi-contrast animal MRI

Eddin¹,

Dorez²,

Curcio³

2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For many neuroscience applications, brain extraction in MRI images is the first pre-processing step of a quantification pipeline. Once the brain is extracted, further post-processing calculations become faster, more specific and easier to implement and interpret. It is the case, for example, of functional MRI brain studies, or relaxation time mappings and brain tissues classifications to characterise brain pathologies. Existing brain extraction tools are mostly adapted to work on the human anatomy, this gives poor results when applied to animal brain images. We have developed an atlas-based Veterinary Images Brain Extraction (VIBE) algorithm that encompasses a pre-processing step to adapt the atlas to the patient’s image, and a subsequent registration step. We show that the brain extraction is achieved with excellent results in terms of Dice and Jaccard metrics. The algorithm is automatic, with no need to adapt the parameters in a broad range of situations: we successfully tested multiple MRI contrasts (T1-weighted, T2-weighted, T2-weighted FLAIR), all the acquisition planes (sagittal, dorsal, transverse), different animal species (dogs and cats) and canine cranial conformations (brachycephalic, mesocephalic, dolichocephalic). VIBE can be successfully extended to other animal species, provided that an atlas for that specific species exists. We show also how brain extraction, as a preliminary step, can help to segment brain tissues with a K-Means clustering algorithm.

show abstract

“…The weaned female grey seal brains showed the expected six-layer structure in the neocortex, which was of varying cortical thickness across the brain (min: 1 mm, max: 4.2 mm, M = 2.6 mm, SD = 0.7 mm; Supplement, Figure S2-S10). The mean cortical thickness was relatively close to that of harbor seals (2 mm range [18]), canines (2-3 mm range [24]), and humans (M = 2.5 mm [14]). The grey seal brains observed here (Supplement, Figure S2-S10) and the harbor seal brains examined in previous studies, showed high variation in both total cortical thickness across cortical areas (e.g., being very thick in gyri, very thin in sulci) and the thickness of specific layers across different cortical areas [18].…”

mentioning

confidence: 81%

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Hoeksema

Verga

Mengede

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comparative studies of vocal learning and vocal non-learning animals can increase our understanding of the neurobiology and evolution of vocal learning and human speech. Mammalian vocal learning is understudied: most research has either focused on vocal learning in songbirds or its absence in non-human primates. Here we focus on a highly promising model species for the neurobiology of vocal learning: grey seals. We provide a neuroanatomical atlas (based on dissected brain slices and magnetic resonance images), a labelled MRI template, a 3D model with volumetric measurements of brain regions, and histological cortical stainings. Four main features of the grey seal brain stand out. (1) It is relatively big and highly convoluted. (2) It hosts a relatively large temporal lobe and cerebellum, structures which could support developed timing abilities and acoustic processing. (3) The cortex is similar to humans in thickness and shows the expected six-layered mammalian structure. (4) Expression of FoxP2 - a gene involved in vocal learning and spoken language - is present in deeper layers of the cortex. Our results could facilitate future studies targeting the neural and genetic underpinnings of mammalian vocal learning, thus bridging the research gap from songbirds to humans and non-human primates.

show abstract

In-vivo cortical thickness estimation from high-resolution T₁w MRI scans in healthy and mucopolysaccharidosis affected dogs

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Automatic brain extraction and brain tissues segmentation on multi-contrast animal MRI

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

In-vivo cortical thickness estimation from high-resolution T1w MRI scans in healthy and mucopolysaccharidosis affected dogs

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Automatic brain extraction and brain tissues segmentation on multi-contrast animal MRI

Neuroanatomy of the grey seal brain: bringing pinnipeds into the neurobiological study of vocal learning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

In-vivo cortical thickness estimation from high-resolution T₁w MRI scans in healthy and mucopolysaccharidosis affected dogs