Structural brain atlases: design, rationale, and applications in normal and pathological cohorts

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Computational Neuroscience
• Medical Image Analysis

Background:

• Structural MRI provides brain anatomy, while fMRI reveals brain activity.
• Accurate analysis of fMRI and other neuroimaging data (e.g., DTI, MRS) relies on registration to brain templates.
• Population and disease-specific brain templates are vital due to variations in brain shape and size, particularly in conditions like Alzheimer's disease.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive review of the history, construction, and applications of brain atlases.
• To outline the evolution of brain template design from early atlases to modern, population-specific ones.
• To present an automated protocol for creating population-specific brain atlases using LONI Pipeline.

Main Methods:

• Review of historical brain atlases and their construction methods.
• Description of an automated workflow for designing population-specific brain atlases from structural MRI data.
• Utilizing the LONI Pipeline graphical workflow environment for atlas construction.

Main Results:

• A chronological overview of brain template development, including the Talairach and Tournoux atlas and the Chinese brain template.
• Detailed construction protocols for various brain templates.
• Demonstration of an automated workflow for creating population-specific brain atlases.

Conclusions:

• Brain templates are essential research tools in neuroimaging.
• Population-specific brain atlases enhance the accuracy of data registration and analysis.
• Brain templates have broad applications across various neuroimaging modalities and research areas.