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

D.P. HOLSCHNEIDER, O.U. SCREMIN, D.R. CHIALVO, B.P. KAY, J.-M. I. MAAREK

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

Elsevier

Año: 2008 p. 179 - 184

0304-3940

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.