Open AccessA series of five population‐specific Indian brain templates and atlases spanning ages 6–60 years
Author(s) -
Holla Bharath,
Taylor Paul A.,
Glen Daniel R.,
Lee John A.,
Vaidya Nilakshi,
Mehta Urvakhsh Meherwan,
Venkatasubramanian Ganesan,
Pal Pramod Kumar,
Saini Jitender,
Rao Naren P.,
Ahuja Chirag K.,
Kuriyan Rebecca,
Krishna Murali,
Basu Debashish,
Kalyanram Kartik,
Chakrabarti Amit,
Orfanos Dimitri Papadopoulos,
Barker Gareth J.,
Cox Robert W.,
Schumann Gunter,
Bharath Rose Dawn,
Benegal Vivek
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.25182
Subject(s) - spatial normalization , template , population , normalization (sociology) , pattern recognition (psychology) , computer science , atlas (anatomy) , brain morphometry , artificial intelligence , cartography , geography , voxel , biology , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , anatomy , radiology , environmental health , sociology , anthropology , programming language
Anatomical brain templates are commonly used as references in neurological MRI studies, for bringing data into a common space for group‐level statistics and coordinate reporting. Given the inherent variability in brain morphology across age and geography, it is important to have templates that are as representative as possible for both age and population. A representative‐template increases the accuracy of alignment, decreases distortions as well as potential biases in final coordinate reports. In this study, we developed and validated a new set of T1w Indian brain templates (IBT) from a large number of brain scans (total n = 466) acquired across different locations and multiple 3T MRI scanners in India. A new tool in AFNI, make_template_dask.py, was created to efficiently make five age‐specific IBTs (ages 6–60 years) as well as maximum probability map (MPM) atlases for each template; for each age‐group's template–atlas pair, there is both a “population‐average” and a “typical” version. Validation experiments on an independent Indian structural and functional‐MRI dataset show the appropriateness of IBTs for spatial normalization of Indian brains. The results indicate significant structural differences when comparing the IBTs and MNI template, with these differences being maximal along the Anterior–Posterior and Inferior–Superior axes, but minimal Left–Right. For each age‐group, the MPM brain atlases provide reasonably good representation of the native‐space volumes in the IBT space, except in a few regions with high intersubject variability. These findings provide evidence to support the use of age and population‐specific templates in human brain mapping studies.