NeuroanatomyDevelopment of a high resolution three-dimensional surgical atlas of the murine head for strains 129S1/SvImJ and C57Bl/6J using magnetic resonance imaging and micro-computed tomography
Section snippets
Animals and tissue preparation
Eight-week old inbred 129S1/SvImJ (Jackson Laboratories [JL], Bar Harbor, ME, USA), C57Bl/6J (Charles River Laboratories, Inc. [CR], Wilmington, MA, USA) and outbred CD1 (CR) or ICR (JL) male mice were obtained from either JL or CR and housed in our gnotobiotic animal colony for 72 h following arrival. Individuals for additional strain comparisons (BALB/cJ, C57BL/6J, DBA/2J, A/J, FVB/NJ, C3H/HeJ) were also obtained from JL or from our own colony at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount
Low resolution MRI of the murine head
As a first step toward generating 3D atlases of the murine head, whole heads of eight week old 129S1/SvImJ or C57Bl/6J male mice were imaged with MR at a resolution of 121 μm immediately following tissue preparation (see Experimental Procedures) and removal of external skin. To prevent movement of the sample within the imaging coil, heads were placed in 3% solidified PFA-agarose. For these experiments, MR contrast of the spin echo pulse sequence was adjusted to maximize visualization of both
Discussion
Recent enhancements in the resolving capability of non-destructive imaging methods such as magnetic resonance and micro-CT, have allowed us to develop high-resolution (voxel size 54 μm) digital atlases of the murine head. The combined use of MR and CT imaging techniques has allowed us to interactively visualize the brain and skull as a unified whole, improving the accuracy of stereotactic manipulations by directly linking visible landmarks on the dorsal skull to CNS structures. These data
Acknowledgments
We are indebted to N. Lifshitz, and J. Bishop and L. Yu for technical assistance. This work was supported by grants from Canadian Institute for Health Research to J.T.H and M.H., from the Ontario Research Development Challenge Fund to R.M.H; and a NARSAD Young Investigator award to J.T.H.
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Authors contributed equally to this work.