Connectionists: Internet-Enabled High-Resolution Brain Mapping and Virtual Microscopy

[Shawn Mikula]

The following article is now available at 
http://brainmaps.org/index.php?p=publications

Mikula S, Trotts I, Stone JM, and Jones EG

Internet-Enabled High-Resolution Brain Mapping and Virtual Microscopy

ABSTRACT
Virtual microscopy involves the conversion of histological sections mounted 
on glass microscope slides to high resolution digital images.  Virtual 
microscopy offers several advantages over traditional microscopy, including 
remote viewing and data-sharing, annotation, and various forms of 
data-mining.

We describe a method utilizing virtual microscopy for generation of 
internet-enabled, high-resolution brain maps and atlases.    Virtual 
microscopy-based digital brain atlases have resolutions approaching 100,000 
dpi, which exceeds by three or more orders of magnitude resolutions 
obtainable in conventional print atlases, MRI, and flat-bed scanning. 
Virtual microscopy-based digital brain atlases are superior to conventional 
print atlases in five respects: 1) resolution, 2) annotation, 3) 
interaction, 4) data integration, and 5) data-mining.

Implementation of virtual microscopy-based digital brain atlases is located 
at BrainMaps.org, which is based on more than 10 million megapixels (35 
terabytes) of scanned images of serial sections of primate and non-primate 
brains with a resolution of 0.46 microns/pixel (55,000 dpi).

The method can be replicated by labs seeking to increase accessibility and 
sharing of neuroanatomical data.  Online tools offer the possibility of 
visualizing and exploring completely digitized sections of brains at a 
sub-neuronal level, and can facilitate large-scale connectional tracing, 
histochemical and stereological analyses.