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Author Notes:

Correspondence Dr L. Marino, Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Tel.: +1 404 7277582; fax: +1 404 7270372; e-mail: lmarino@emory.edu

We wish to offer special thanks to H. Mao for his advice and assistance during MRI scanning at Emory University School of Medicine.

We also wish to thank J. Whallon for use of the voxelview programs and the Silicon Graphics, Inc. workstation at the Center for Laser Scanning Microscopy at Michigan State University; R. C. Switzer III and Fabiano Monti-Ferreira for discussions and identifications of the basal ganglia and brainstem structures; W. Welker, A. Noe, J. Connor and A. J. Fobbs for use of stained sections in the Wisconsin and Yakovlev-Haleem Collections.

We also wish to acknowledge the UNCW Marine Mammal Stranding Response Team for their efforts in assessing and handling live strandings under trying conditions and collection of tissues at necropsy.

Subjects:

Research Funding:

This study was supported by grants from the Division of Integrative Biology and Neuroscience, NSF#0131267, 0131028 and 0131826 to John I. Johnson, W. Welker, J. Connor and A. J. Fobbs.

Keywords:

  • brain
  • dwarf sperm whale
  • Kogia
  • MRI

Magnetic resonance images of the brain of a dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus)

Tools:

Journal Title:

Journal of Anatomy

Volume:

Volume 203, Number 1

Publisher:

, Pages 57-76

Type of Work:

Article | Post-print: After Peer Review

Abstract:

Cetacean (dolphin, whale and porpoise) brains are among the least studied mammalian brains because of the difficulty of collecting and histologically preparing such relatively rare and large specimens. Among cetaceans, there exist relatively few studies of the brain of the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a means of observing the internal structure of the brain when traditional histological procedures are not practical. Therefore, MRI has become a critical tool in the study of the brain of cetaceans and other large species. This paper represents the first MRI-based anatomically labelled three-dimensional description of the dwarf sperm whale brain. Coronal plane sections of the brain of a sub-adult dwarf sperm whale were originally acquired and used to produce virtual digital scans in the other two orthogonal spatial planes. A sequential set of images in all three planes has been anatomically labelled and displays the proportions and positions of major neuroanatomical features.

Copyright information:

© Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2003

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