3D mapping of neuronal migration in the embryonic mouse brain with magnetic resonance microimaging

I do think that knowing how neurons migrate just might be useful to know in helping us recover. So DEMAND your doctor and hospital create a clinical trial to figure this out in humans.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381191500289X

• Abby E. Deans^{a, 1},
• Youssef Zaim Wadghiri^b,
• Orlando Aristizábal^a,
• Daniel H. Turnbull^{a, b, c, ,}

• ^a Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Departments of New York University School of Medicine, 540 First Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA
• ^b Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, 540 First Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA
• ^c Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, 540 First Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA

Received 13 November 2014, Accepted 3 April 2015, Available online 11 April 2015

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doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.04.010

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Highlights

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Ultrasound-guided injection of micron-sized particles of iron-oxide (MPIO) in the embryonic mouse brain

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In situ magnetic labeling of embryonic neural progenitor cells

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Automated threshold detection and segmentation of MPIO-labeled cells

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3D micro-MRI analysis of neural cell migration patterns

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Abstract

A prominent feature of the developing mammalian brain is the widespread migration of neural progenitor (NP) cells during embryogenesis. A striking example is provided by NP cells born in the ventral forebrain of mid-gestation stage mice, which subsequently migrate long distances to their final positions in the cortex and olfactory bulb. Previous studies have used two-dimensional histological methods, making it difficult to analyze three-dimensional (3D) migration patterns. Unlike histology, magnetic resonance microimaging (micro-MRI) is a non-destructive, quantitative and inherently 3D imaging method for analyzing mouse embryos. To allow mapping of migrating NP cells with micro-MRI, cells were labeled in situ in the medial (MGE) and lateral (LGE) ganglionic eminences, using targeted in utero ultrasound-guided injection of micron-sized particles of iron-oxide (MPIO). Ex vivo micro-MRI and histology were then performed 5–6 days after injection, demonstrating that the MPIO had magnetically labeled the migrating NP populations, which enabled 3D visualization and automated segmentation of the labeled cells. This approach was used to analyze the distinct patterns of migration from the MGE and LGE, and to construct rostral–caudal migration maps from each progenitor region. Furthermore, abnormal migratory phenotypes were observed in Nkx2.1^−/− embryos, most notably a significant increase in cortical neurons derived from the Nkx2.1^−/− LGE. Taken together, these results demonstrate that MPIO labeling and micro-MRI provide an efficient and powerful approach for analyzing 3D cell migration patterns in the normal and mutant mouse embryonic brain.