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CIVET-Chimp: An automated pipeline for MRI-based cortical surface extraction in chimpanzees
Claude Lepage1, Erika Nolan2, Trisanna Sprung-Much2
1Brain Imaging Center, Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
Neuroimage. Reports
|June 19, 2026
Summary
The MNI CIVET pipeline now analyzes chimpanzee brains, enabling detailed cortical surface and thickness mapping. This advancement facilitates comparative neuroimaging across species, promoting collaborative research in non-human primate brain studies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Comparative Neuroanatomy
- Primate Neuroscience
Background:
- The MNI CIVET pipeline is a tool for analyzing human brain MRI data.
- Previous work extended CIVET to macaque brains.
- Chimpanzee brain research requires specialized imaging analysis tools.
Purpose of the Study:
- To adapt and extend the MNI CIVET pipeline for processing chimpanzee brains.
- To create standardized analysis tools for chimpanzee neuroimaging.
- To facilitate inter-species comparisons between human and chimpanzee brains.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the National Chimpanzee Brain Resource (NCBR) dataset.
- Processed chimpanzee brains in a standardized MNI-like NCBR reference space.
- Developed surface-based registration and parcellations (Davi130, Brainnetome).
- Created surface transformations for inter-species mapping (MNI152, fsavg to MNI-NCBR).
Main Results:
- Successfully adapted the CIVET pipeline for chimpanzee brain analysis (CIVET-Chimp).
- Generated average population surfaces and cortical thickness maps for chimpanzees.
- Provided tools for mapping human average surfaces to the chimpanzee average surface.
- Detailed modifications required for chimpanzee brain processing.
Conclusions:
- The adapted CIVET pipeline enables automated cortical analysis in chimpanzees.
- This facilitates comparative studies between human and chimpanzee brain structures.
- Open access to CIVET-Chimp is expected to advance non-human primate neuroimaging research and collaboration.
