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MRI of postmortem specimens of endangered species for comparative brain anatomy

Nature Protocols volume 3, pages 597–605 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Many of the 5,500 threatened species of vertebrates found worldwide are highly protected and generally unavailable for scientific investigation. Here we describe a noninvasive protocol to visualize the structure and size of brain in postmortem specimens. We demonstrate its utility by examining four endangered species of kiwi (Apteryx spp.). Frozen specimens are thawed and imaged using MRI, revealing internal details of brain structure. External brain morphology and an estimate of brain volume can be reliably obtained by creating 3D models. This method has facilitated a comparison of brain structure in the different kiwi species, one of which is on the brink of extinction. This new approach has the potential to extend our knowledge of brain structure to species that have until now been outside the reach of anatomical investigation.

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Figure 1: Screenshots of the three software packages used to create 3D models of the brains of kiwi (Apteryx spp.).
Figure 2: MRI sagittal sections (from approximately the same position) of the heads of two specimens of kiwi.
Figure 3: MR images through the head of three kiwi specimens in the same coronal plane.
Figure 4: A series of MR images of the head of a North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) in both the coronal and sagittal planes with the corresponding histological (cresly violet stained) section shown.
Figure 5: The brain of a North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) and 3D models created from MR images from brains of a North Island brown kiwi and the tokoeka (Apteryx australis) using AMIRA v3.1 (Zuse Institute).
Figure 6: 3D reconstruction of the striatum (green) and hyperpallium apicale (blue) in the brain of a North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli) created using AMIRA v3.1 (Zuse Institute).

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Duggan for assistance in producing brain photographs and M.E. Hauber for his contribution to the original funding and for useful comments during the development of this project. We are grateful to the staff of the Centre for Advanced MRI, in particular S. Winsor, S. Park and B. Pontré and also to the Biomedical Imaging Research Unit at the University of Auckland. We are also indebted to the New Zealand Department of Conservation for their support during this project, particularly C. Gardner and P. Graham for their invaluable assistance in obtaining kiwi specimens. This work was funded by the School of Biological Sciences PBRF Fund and by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy with Radiology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Jeremy R Corfield, J Martin Wild & M Fabiana Kubke

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Jeremy R Corfield & Stuart Parsons

  3. Centre for Advanced MRI, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Brett R Cowan

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  1. Jeremy R Corfield
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  2. J Martin Wild
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  4. Stuart Parsons
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  5. M Fabiana Kubke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M Fabiana Kubke.

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Competing interests

Brett Cowan provides consulting advice to Siemens Medical Systems (manufacturer of the clinical scanner used in the paper) in the area of cardiovascular clinical MRI through Auckland UniServices Limited, the commercial arm of the University of Auckland. This is in an area that is completely removed from the subject matter of the paper.

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Corfield, J., Wild, J., Cowan, B. et al. MRI of postmortem specimens of endangered species for comparative brain anatomy. Nat Protoc 3, 597–605 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2008.17

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