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Macroscopic Structural and Connectome Mapping of the Mouse Brain Using Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Tanzil Mahmud Arefin1, Choong Heon Lee1, Jordon D White2
1Bernard Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA.
Bio-Protocol
|December 15, 2021
Summary
This study presents a novel diffusion MRI pipeline for analyzing mouse brain structure and connectivity. This method aids in understanding brain changes in models of psychiatric and neurological conditions, improving translational research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
- Systems Neuroscience
Background:
- Rodent models are crucial for understanding brain mechanisms but often fail in clinical translation.
- Improving the translational utility of preclinical rodent studies is essential for advancing psychiatric and neurological research.
- Small animal imaging offers a strategy to bridge the gap between preclinical findings and human studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a comprehensive pipeline for unbiased structural and network analysis of the entire mouse brain using diffusion MRI.
- To characterize structural brain alterations and connectivity changes in a mouse model of early life stress.
Main Methods:
- Utilized diffusion MRI at 100 µm isotropic resolution to cover the whole mouse brain.
- Employed unbiased whole-brain voxel-based analyses to identify volumetric and microstructural alterations.
- Applied graph theory to assess structural connectivity and network properties using identified brain regions as nodes.
Main Results:
- Successfully identified structural abnormalities in adult mice exposed to unpredictable postnatal stress (UPS), a model for early life stress (ELS).
- Established a method to generate a structural connectome and analyze network properties based on imaging data.
- Demonstrated the pipeline's capability for unbiased, high-resolution whole-brain analysis.
Conclusions:
- The described diffusion MRI pipeline provides a powerful tool for characterizing the structural connectome in the mouse brain.
- This technique can be broadly applied to various mouse models of human disorders and genetically modified strains.
- Enhancing the translational validity of preclinical research through advanced imaging techniques is critical for neurological and psychiatric condition research.
