| Abstract: | Due to the fact that morphology and perinatal growth of the piglet brain is similar to humans, use of the piglet as a translational animal model for neurodevelopmental studies is increasing. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be a powerful tool to study neurodevelopment in piglets, but many of the MRI resources have been produced for adult humans. Here, we present an average in vivo MRI-based atlas specific for the 4-week-old piglet. In addition, we have developed probabilistic tissue classification maps. These tools can be used with brain mapping software packages (e.g. SPM and FSL) to aid in voxel-based morphometry and image analysis techniques. The atlas enables efficient study of neurodevelopment in a highly tractable translational animal with brain growth and development similar to humans. |
