Cited by 475Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and ApplicationsAnatomy and Medical TechnologyMedical Image Segmentation Techniques

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 90 of the 91 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 60 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Comprehensive cellular‐resolution atlas of the adult human brain

Open access

Abstract

Detailed anatomical understanding of the human brain is essential for unraveling its functional architecture, yet current reference atlases have major limitations such as lack of whole‐brain coverage, relatively low image resolution, and sparse structural annotation. We present the first digital human brain atlas to incorporate neuroimaging, high‐resolution histology, and chemoarchitecture across a complete adult female brain, consisting of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI), and 1,356 large‐format cellular resolution (1 µm/pixel) Nissl and immunohistochemistry anatomical plates. The atlas is comprehensively annotated for 862 structures, including 117 white matter tracts and several novel cyto‐ and chemoarchitecturally defined structures, and these annotations were transferred onto the matching MRI dataset. Neocortical delineations were done for sulci, gyri, and modified Brodmann areas to link macroscopic anatomical and microscopic cytoarchitectural parcellations. Correlated neuroimaging and histological structural delineation allowed fine feature identification in MRI data and subsequent structural identification in MRI data from other brains. This interactive online digital atlas is integrated with existing Allen Institute for Brain Science gene expression atlases and is publicly accessible as a resource for the neuroscience community. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:3127–3481, 2016. © 2016 The Authors The Journal of Comparative Neurology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Overview

AI snapshot

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TL;DR

The paper presents a digital adult human brain atlas combining ex vivo MRI, DWI, and high-resolution histology from a complete adult female brain, with 1,356 cellular-resolution anatomical plates and 862 annotated structures. It is publicly accessible, interactive, and integrated with existing Allen Institute human brain gene expression atlases.

Key findings

  • The atlas includes MRI, DWI, and 1,356 large-format cellular-resolution (1 µm/pixel) Nissl and immunohistochemistry plates from the same adult female brain; 106 Nissl-stained sections were annotated for 862 structures using 11,398 polygons, including 117 white matter tracts.
  • Annotations cover modified Brodmann areas, sulci/gyri, subcortical nuclei, brainstem, and cerebellum, and identify novel or newly detailed structures/subdivisions such as MDam in the thalamus, BMm in the amygdala, the lateral olfactory area (LOA), area prostriata (APro), and the basal interstitial nucleus of the cerebellum (BIcb).
  • Correlated histology and MRI allowed feature extraction and transfer: the medial geniculate nucleus showed high signal intensity and the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus low signal intensity, enabling identification in MRI from other Allen Human Brain Atlas cases; 76 coronal MRI slices at 2-mm intervals were annotated.
  • The resource is freely accessible online and linked to adult and developing human brain transcriptional atlases.

Methods

  • Single 34-year-old female donor with no history of neurological disease; brain was fixed, scanned ex vivo with 7 T structural MRI and 3 T DWI, bisected, slabbed, and sectioned coronally at 50 µm. Of 2,716 total sections, 679 were Nissl-stained (200-µm interval), 339 NFP-immunostained (400-µm interval), and 338 PV-immunostained (400-µm interval); 1,356 sections were digitized at 1 µm/pixel.
  • Anatomical delineation used 106 selected Nissl sections with sampling intervals of 0.4–3.4 mm, combined with adjacent NFP and PV sections; outlines were drawn on printouts, converted to digital polygons, and linked to a hierarchical whole-brain ontology.
  • MRI annotations were made on 76 coronal slices at 2-mm intervals; DWI tractography used the FACT algorithm with a 60° angular threshold, tracts longer than 20 mm, and 90% skip applied.

Limitations

  • Stated: the atlas is based on a single representative brain specimen, and the authors note that interindividual variability makes it unrealistic to map histological annotations from one specimen directly into a probabilistic reference space.
  • Stated: transposing Nissl-based delineations into full 3D annotations registered to MRI is challenging because of incomplete and nonuniform sampling of the annotated plates.
  • Stated: sectioning and mounting produced artifacts including large cracks and smaller tears in some sections; evident from the text, the resource is descriptive and single-donor, with no group-level statistical validation, and annotations are manual and could be reannotated by other researchers.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/cne.24080

Cites

90 of 90 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 60 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 58 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 33
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 34
55 of 55
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    A single adult female brain without neurological disease is representative of the adult human brain for the purpose of a reference atlas.

    “The brain used for this reference atlas was from a 34‐year‐old female donor with no history of neurological diseases or remarkable brain abnormality”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Anatomical delineations and annotations based on this one brain can be transferred to MRI data from other brains.

    “Correlated neuroimaging and histological structural delineation allowed fine feature identification in MRI data and subsequent structural identification in MRI data from other brains.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The homologs of MDam and BMm in other species have not been reported.

    “The homologs of MDam and BMm in other species have not been reported.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The exact location and extent of area prostriata in the human brain has not been reported in detail so far.

    “Although its existence in the human brain was briefly described, its exact location and extent has not been reported in detail so far.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The somatosensory radiation is normally treated as part of the superior radiation in the literature and mainly originates from the ventroposterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus and targets the primary somatosensory cortex.

    “The “sr” is normally treated as part of the superior radiation in the literature and mainly originates from the ventroposterior lateral nucleus of the thalamus and targets the primary somatosensory cortex.”
5 of 5

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Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

  • Anti-NFP antibody dilution differs between methods and Table 2

    Minor

    The methods give the SMI-32 dilution as 1:3,000, while Table 2 lists 1:5,000 for the same antibody.

  • Reported section dimensions cannot fit on the stated slides

    Minor

    A section described as approximately 3.2 × 4.3 metres cannot be mounted on a 3 × 5 inch slide. The dimension or its unit is inconsistent with the stated slide size.

  • Figure 2 cortical-map labels are reversed

    Minor

    The Figure 2 caption assigns modified Brodmann areas to I1 and the gyral map to I2, but the results text assigns them the other way around.

  • Figure 6 references swap the nerve-root and commissure panels

    Minor

    The results cite panel G for motor roots and panel F for the inferior-colliculus commissure. The Figure 6 caption identifies F as a nerve-root panel and G as the commissure panel.

  • Figure 17 repeats section 05_047 at levels 44 and 65

    Minor

    The same section identifier appears at two widely separated anterior-to-posterior levels. Level 65 also falls among entries identified as slab 06 rather than slab 05.

5 of 5

Citations

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Show all 91 references

1 of the 91 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Brodmann K, 1909, Localisation in the cerebral cortex
  2. Jones EG, 2007, The thalamus
  3. Mai JK, 2008, Atlas of the human brain
  4. Sarkisov SA, 1955, Atlas of the cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex
  5. WangR BennerT SoresenAG WedeenVJ.2007.Diffusion Toolkit: a software package for diffusion imaging data processing and tractograpy. Proceedings of 15th Annual Meeting of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine p3720.

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Metadata

Authors
Ding, S., Royall, J. J., Sunkin, S. M., Ng, L., Facer, B. A. C., Lesnar, P., Guillozet‐Bongaarts, A., McMurray, B., Szafer, A., Dolbeare, T. A., Stevens, A., Tirrell, L., Benner, T., Caldejon, S., Dalley, R. A., Dee, N., Lau, C., Nyhus, J., Reding, M., Riley, Z. L., Sandman, D., Shen, E., van der Kouwe, A., Varjabedian, A., Write, M., Zollei, L., Dang, C., Knowles, J. A., Koch, C., Phillips, J. W., Sestan, N., Wohnoutka, P., Zielke, H. R., Hohmann, J. G., Jones, A. R., Bernard, A., Hawrylycz, M. J., Hof, P. R., Fischl, B., & Lein, E. S.
Affiliations
  • Allen Institute for Brain Science (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging Massachusetts General Hospital Charlestown Massachusetts 02129
  • University of Southern California (US)
  • Allen Institute for Brain Science Seattle Washington 98109
  • Department of Neurobiology and Kavli Institute for Neuroscience Yale University School of Medicine New Haven Connecticut 06510
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
Corresponding author
  • Ding, Song‐Lin
  • Lein, Ed S.
Venue
Journal of Comparative Neurology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2016-09-15
Volume
524
Issue
16
Pages
3127-3481
ISSN
  • 0021-9967 (ISSN-L)
  • 1096-9861
OpenAlex
W2504912000
Cited by
447
References
91
Citations by year
2026: 39 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 55 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 2
FWCI
28.05
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Journal of Comparative Neurology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (RC2 MH089921)
  • NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (5U01‐MH093765)
  • National Institute on Aging (5R01AG008122 & R01AG016495)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Anatomy and Medical Technology
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Medical Image Segmentation Techniques
Keywords
digital brain atlas, white matter tracts, cytoarchitecture, chemoarchitecture, Nissl staining, immunohistochemistry, diffusion-weighted imaging, MRI-histology correlation, Brodmann areas, female brain
MeSH terms
Adult, Anatomy, Artistic, Brain, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Parvalbumins, Neurofilament Proteins, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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