White matter extension of the Melbourne Children's Regional Infant Brain atlas: M-CRIB-WM.

ABSTRACT

Brain atlases providing standardised identification of neonatal brain regions are key in investigating neurological disorders of early childhood. Our previously developed Melbourne Children's Regional Infant Brain (M-CRIB) and M-CRIB 2.0 neonatal brain atlases provide standardised parcellation of 100 brain regions including cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar regions. The aim of this study was to extend M-CRIB atlas coverage to include 54 white matter (WM) regions. Participants were 10 healthy term-born neonates that were used to create the initial M-CRIB atlas. WM regions were manually segmented based on T2 images and co-registered diffusion tensor imaging-based, direction-encoded colour maps. Our labelled regions imitate the Johns Hopkins University neonatal atlas, with minor anatomical modifications. All segmentations were reviewed and approved by a paediatric radiologist and a neurosurgery research fellow for anatomical accuracy. The resulting neonatal WM atlas comprises 54 WM regions 24 paired regions, and six unpaired regions comprising five corpus callosum subdivisions, and one pontine crossing tract. Detailed protocols for manual WM parcellations are provided, and the M-CRIB-WM atlas is presented together with the existing M-CRIB cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar parcellations in 10 individual neonatal MRI data sets. The novel M-CRIB-WM atlas, along with the M-CRIB cortical and subcortical atlases, provide neonatal whole brain MRI coverage in the first multi-subject manually parcellated neonatal atlas compatible with atlases commonly used at older time points. The M-CRIB-WM atlas is publicly available, providing a valuable tool that will help facilitate neuroimaging research into neonatal brain development in both healthy and diseased states.