About Mapping Data
The Landmark Templates are intended for use as backgrounds to which various kinds of neuroanatomical data can be readily mapped using computer image processing applications, such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Freehand, etc. They consist of some 70 computer files in encapsulated postscript (eps) format. These files are identical to pages of the Template Atlas, except that certain components of the image have been removed to avoid confusion with the salient landmarks needed for mapping. Components eliminated from the Template Atlas to produce the Landmark Templates include the labels, shading, scales, and portions of the structure boundaries that were estimated in order to close a boundary not readily visible in the Nissl-stained section. The Landmark Templates include in addition to the 58 coronal diagrams and four standard views of the cortical surface, seven cortical views with open sulci for mapping to the insula and banks of sulci.

The Boundary Templates are intended for use with image processing applications to generate overlays for MRIs or PET scans that show the estimated location of structure boundaries in individual animals. The Boundary Templates consist of 58 coronal diagrams from the Template Atlas in which the structure labels and shading have been removed but unlike the landmark templates, the estimated as well as the defined portions of boundaries remain. These also are in eps format. To generate an individualized map of the MRI of an animal, one loads the MRI and the corresponding Boundary Template into a warping or morphing application. A variety of program packages exist for this purpose (Toga, 1999). In our laboratory the eps files are downloaded to Adobe Photoshop and converted to tiff format. Edgewarp (Bookstein, 1990, 1994) is used to warp the Boundary Template in tiff format to the MRI.

Instructions

  1. Click "Map Data to Template"
  2. Select a kind of view (surface or cross-section)
  3. Select a specific view
  4. Click "To Templates"
  5. Click the "Download" button beneath the desired Landmark Template or Boundary Template