Abstract
Brain atlases providing standardised identification of neonatal brain regions are key in investigating neurological disorders of early childhood. Our previously developed Melbourne Children's Regional Infant Brain (M‐CRIB) and M‐CRIB 2.0 neonatal brain atlases provide standardised parcellation of 100 brain regions including cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar regions. The aim of this study was to extend M‐CRIB atlas coverage to include 54 white matter (WM) regions. Participants were 10 healthy term‐born neonates that were used to create the initial M‐CRIB atlas. WM regions were manually segmented based on T 2 images and co‐registered diffusion tensor imaging‐based, direction‐encoded colour maps. Our labelled regions imitate the Johns Hopkins University neonatal atlas, with minor anatomical modifications. All segmentations were reviewed and approved by a paediatric radiologist and a neurosurgery research fellow for anatomical accuracy. The resulting neonatal WM atlas comprises 54 WM regions: 24 paired regions, and six unpaired regions comprising five corpus callosum subdivisions, and one pontine crossing tract. Detailed protocols for manual WM parcellations are provided, and the M‐CRIB‐WM atlas is presented together with the existing M‐CRIB cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar parcellations in 10 individual neonatal MRI data sets. The novel M‐CRIB‐WM atlas, along with the M‐CRIB cortical and subcortical atlases, provide neonatal whole brain MRI coverage in the first multi‐subject manually parcellated neonatal atlas compatible with atlases commonly used at older time points. The M‐CRIB‐WM atlas is publicly available, providing a valuable tool that will help facilitate neuroimaging research into neonatal brain development in both healthy and diseased states.
Highlights
Parcellated brain atlases are a key component of many neuroimaging tools
The Melbourne Children's Regional Infant Brain (M-CRIB)-white matter (WM) has been defined based on high-quality neonatal diffusion weighted images (DWI) and T2-weighted data, enabling delineation of the relatively small, detailed structures in the neonatal brain
Manual segmentation remains the best practice for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain parcellation as it allows precise delineation of different brain regions, those with complex or arbitrarily defined boundaries
Summary
Parcellated brain atlases are a key component of many neuroimaging tools. They can facilitate identification and labelling of brain regions in a consistent manner, such that properties of these regions can be compared across brains and across time points. Few parcellated atlases were available for the crucial neonatal time period where the foundations for all future neurodevelopment are set. Investigating properties of individual WM regions, such as volume, shape and surface area, microstructure, and myelination, and their behavioural and clinical correlates in typically and atypically developing populations, is of potential clinical relevance (e.g., Mori 2009; Oishi et al, 2009). The provision of WM atlases at the neonatal time point is critical for investigating both typical and atypical WM development
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