A population-average MRI-based atlas collection of the rhesus macaque

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of non-human primates are becoming increasingly common; however, the well-developed voxel-based methodologies used in human studies are not readily applied to non-human primates. In the present study, we create a population-average MRI-based atlas collection for the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) that can be used with common brain mapping packages such as SPM or FSL. In addition to creating a publicly available T1-weighted atlas (http://www.brainmap.wisc.edu/monkey.html), probabilistic tissue classification maps and T2-weighted atlases were also created. Theses atlases are aligned to the MRI volume from the Saleem, K.S. and Logothetis, N.K. (2006) atlas providing an explicit link to histological sections. Additionally, we have created a transform to integrate these atlases with the F99 surface-based atlas in CARET. It is anticipated that these tools will help facilitate voxel-based imaging methodologies in non-human primate species, which in turn may increase our understanding of brain function, development, and evolution.