Neuroanatomy Dissection & Quiz

Neuroanatomy: Brain dissection and anatomical MRI quiz

This quiz uses labelled still images from a dissected sheep (Ovis aries) brain and corresponding ex vivo MRI images from the same specimen. Although sheep and human brains differ substantially, many major regions are anatomically homologous or broadly comparable, even when their relative size, orientation, and functional specialisation differ across species. Given their accessibility and easier handling, sheep brains provide a practical teaching model for learning neuroanatomy and brain dissection.

Before dissection, the specimen was cooled to approximately 4°C to firm the tissue and improve handling during sectioning.

Ex vivo MRI was acquired on a Siemens 3T MAGNETOM Prismafit scanner. The T1 weighted image was acquired using a sagittal 3D MPRAGE sequence, with 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.6 mm voxel size, 150 mm field of view, 144 slices, TR/TE = 2300/2.64 ms, TI = 926 ms, and base resolution 256. The T2 weighted image was acquired using a sagittal 3D SPACE sequence, with 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.6 mm voxel size, 150 mm field of view, 144 slices, TR/TE = 3200/404 ms, and base resolution 256. The proton density image was acquired using a transverse turbo spin echo sequence, with 0.4 × 0.4 × 2.0 mm voxel size, 150 mm field of view, 40 slices, TR/TE = 3000/11 ms, and base resolution 384.

Dissection, research, photography, MR imaging and preprocessing, quiz preparation, and coding by Remy Cohan. © Remy Cohan; CohanR.GitHub.io. Open access under CC BY 4.0; Share with author attribution. Many thanks to the Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience for sponsoring this workshop, as well as Dr. Peter Kohler, and Dr. Jeffrey Schall. Special thanks to the York MRI Facility, Dr. Gary Turner, Dr. Diana Gorbet and Chi Cheng.