Integration of 3D gene expression maps of ViBrism-DB into the standard coordinate Waxholm Space

Integrated understanding of complexity of brain structure and gene expression is crucial for molecular research into neural organization and function. Here we show integration results of gene expression maps of ViBrism-DB (Virtual Brain with 3D-ISM) into anatomical landscapes of the standard coordinate space, Waxholm Space (WHS: G. A. Johnson et al, 2010, NeuroImage 53, 365-372/ doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.067, M. Hawrylycz et al, 2011, PLoS Comput Biol 7[2]: e1001065. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1001065). 

The expression density maps were originally reconstructed in an image space by gene expression tomography methods from simultaneously acquired two types of data, microarray intensities and anatomical surface images, of body-axes-based cross-dissected 61 fractions of 6 adult (8W) C57Bl6/J mice. We now introduce rigid and non-rigid transformation methods using in Digital Atlasing Infrastructure (DAI) Task Force of the INCF Digital Atlasing Program (http://incf.org/core/programs/atlasing) in order to integrate the density map data with the MRI data of WHS. Consequently the anatomical accuracy of the expression mapping is significantly improved and the maps are analyzable in reference to the information of WHS, which will be widely accessible and usable to the research community (Boline et al, 2007, Nature Preceedings, doi:10.1038/npre.2007.1046.1). 

Our technology and datasets would be particularly useful for gene expression research, by viewing the whole brain, necessitated in systemic approaches to the complexity and should provide new insight of brain architecture and function.