Multi-dimensional anatomical representation: A volumetric comparison of the C57BL/6 and N3 C57BL/6 x 129/Sv mouse brain modelled from serial section using Autodesk Maya

Our capacity to model human disease through genetic manipulation has made the mouse (Mus musculus) one of the most important entities in biomedicine. Transgenic and targeted genetic mouse models of neurodegenerative disease are typically engineered on a mixed background of inbred mouse lines, i.e., 129/Sv and C57BL/6. These inbred strains display significant neuroanatomical differences. The cerebral architecture of hybrid C57BL/6 x 129/Sv mice, however, has not been defined. Here, we describe the reconstruction of serial 5 μm paraffin-embedded, sagittal brain sections from N3 C57BL/6 x 129/Sv mice into 2D and 3D digital models. Using these datasets, we quantify the volume of various anatomical brain structures comparing N3 brains with both donor and recipient inbred strains. We further discuss how these 3D atlases can be used to map “-omic” spatial information derived from mouse models of neurodegenerative disease. Animations are freely available at http://neurolipidomics.com/resources.html.