Multi-contrast anatomical subcortical structures parcellation

eLife, vol. 9

Abstract

The human subcortex is comprised of more than 450 individual nuclei which lie deep in the brain. Due to their small size and close proximity, up until now only 7% have been depicted in standard MRI atlases. Thus, the human subcortex can largely be considered as terra incognita. Here, we present a new open-source parcellation algorithm to automatically map the subcortex. The new algorithm has been tested on 17 prominent subcortical structures based on a large quantitative MRI dataset at 7 Tesla. It has been carefully validated against expert human raters and previous methods, and can easily be extended to other subcortical structures and applied to any quantitative MRI dataset. In sum, we hope this novel parcellation algorithm will facilitate functional and structural neuroimaging research into small subcortical nuclei and help to chart terra incognita.

Authors 5

1. Pierre‐Louis Bazin

   Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

   Max-Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

   Max-Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany;

2. Anneke Alkemade

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

3. Martijn Mulder

   Utrecht University · University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

   Psychology Department, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;

   Psychology Department, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands;

4. Amanda G. Henry Aachen Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

5. Birte U. Forstmann

   University of Amsterdam

   Affiliation as printed

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

   Integrative Model-based Cognitive Neuroscience research unit, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;