Flattened cortical maps of cerebral function in the rat: A region-of-interest approach to data sampling, analysis and display

• Published in: Neuroscience letters 2008-03, Vol.434 (2), p.179-184
• Main Authors: Holschneider, D.P., Scremin, O.U., Chialvo, D.R., Kay, B.P., Maarek, J.-M. I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antipyrine - analogs & derivatives; Antipyrine - pharmacokinetics; Autoradiography; Biological and medical sciences; Brain mapping; Brain Mapping - instrumentation; Brain Mapping - methods; Carbon Radioisotopes; Cerebral cortex; Cerebral Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Radionuclide Imaging; Rats; Software; Topographic maps; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2008.01.061

We describe a method for the measurement, analysis and display of cerebral cortical data obtained from coronal brain sections of the adult rat. In this method, regions-of-interest (ROI) are selected in the cortical mantle in a semiautomated fashion using a radial grid overlay, spaced in 15° intervals from the midline. ROI measurements of intensity are mapped on a flattened two-dimensional surface. Topographic maps of statistical significance at each ROI allow for the rapid viewing of group differences. Cortical z-scores are displayed with the boundaries of brain regions defined according to a standard atlas of the rat brain. This method and accompanying software implementation (Matlab, Labview) allow for compact data display in a variety of autoradiographic and histologic studies of the structure and function of the rat brain.