May 19, 2023
Kyoto University
Keio University
The Jikei University School of Medicine
National Institute for Physiological Sciences, National Institutes of Natural Sciences
Ritsumeikan University
An international collaborative research group—including Assistant Professor Tomoko Sakai and Professor Hideyuki Okano from Keio University; Project Associate Professor Yuta Shintaku, Assistant Professor Takako Miyabe, and Professor Emeritus Yuzuru Hamada from Kyoto University; Professor James H. Okano, Lecturer Yuki Ota, and graduate student Kazumi Sogabe from The Jikei University School of Medicine; Associate Professor Junichi Hata from Tokyo Metropolitan University; Group Leader Takafumi Minamimoto and Principal Researcher Toshiyuki Hirabayashi from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology; Professor Norihiro Sadato from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and Ritsumeikan University (adjunct/professor); and Associate Professor Kenichi Oishi and Professor Susumu Mori from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine—has collected high-resolution 3D images of "whole-brain" neural circuits in primates and developed a primate brain specimen image repository.
In recent years, with advancements in non-invasive medical imaging methods like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer technology, comparative primate neuroimaging has been gaining attention. By comparing with primates, close relatives of humans, this field aims to elucidate the evolutionary commonalities and diversity of the human brain and to understand and predict the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurological disorders. In Japan, the "Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies" project (hereinafter referred to as Brain/MINDS) has been developing a brain image database of non-human primate models. Recently, a brain image database of the small primate, the marmoset, was released from Brain/MINDS ( Brain/MINDS Marmoset Brain MRI Dataset NA216 – Brain/MINDS ).
This research group, in collaboration with Brain/MINDS and the Strategic International Brain Science Research Promotion Program (Brain/MINDS-Connectome), has developed a microscopic MRI technique using an ultra-high field MRI scanner to capture diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) images that visualize the connectivity of nerve fibers without sectioning the brain specimens from one of the world's largest collections of primate brain specimens. They have succeeded in depicting the diversity of neural circuits at the whole-brain level across primate species, ranging from marmosets weighing about 100g to chimpanzees weighing 38kg. This brain image repository enters its second phase with the publication of this paper. Furthermore, by comprehensively providing brain information from a diverse range of primates, it contributes to elucidating the characteristics of the human brain and psychiatric and neurological disorders through data-driven science. In recognition of these activities, this paper was published as an invited article in the online edition of Neuroimage on April 7, 2023.
For the full press release, please see below.