Using art to understand the neuroanatomy of the cerebellum

A hand drawn atlas of the embryonic chick cerebellum, created by a fourth-year post-secondary science student as part of her independent research project, served the dual goal of providing an accurate and accessible map of the anatomical structure of the chick cerebellum for learning embryonic neural development, while also highlighting the benefits of art and drawing as a means to aid understanding and appreciating complex, three-dimensional neuroanatomical structures. The cerebellum is a region of the brain that is convoluted and intricately folded and it can be challenging to connect two-dimensional coronal or sagittal planes of section to the wholemount structure. This can be further complicated by anatomical variation among different species. Microscopy can be prohibitive with respect to equipment, skills and slide quality and preservation and a lack of detailed atlases of the embryonic chick brain compounds the difficulty of learning the anatomy of the pre-hatch avian cerebellum. To our knowledge, using hand-drawn graphite sketches to explore and learn about an embryonic cerebellum is a novel approach. Our initial findings suggest that using art to understand the organisation and structure of the avian cerebellum has the potential to be an effective and beneficial approach for students learning neuroanatomy.