A High-Resolution Probabilistic In Vivo Atlas of Human Subcortical Brain Nuclei

Abstract

Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, including data acquisition, pre-processing and analysis, have enabled research on the contributions of subcortical brain nuclei to human cognition and behavior. At the same time, these developments have led to an increasing need for a high-resolution probabilistic in-vivo anatomical atlas of subcortical nuclei. In order to fill this gap, we constructed high spatial resolution, three-dimensional templates, using joint high accuracy diffeomorphic registration of T1- and T2- weighted structural images from 168 typical adults between 22 and 35 years old. In these templates, many tissue boundaries are clearly visible, which would otherwise be impossible to delineate in data from individual studies. The resulting delineation provides a more accurate parcellation of subcortical nuclei than current histology-based atlases. We further created a companion library of software tools for atlas development, to offer an open and evolving resource for the creation of a crowd-sourced in-vivo probabilistic anatomical atlas of the human brain.