Aim. In recent years, connectivity studies using neuroimaging data have increased the understanding of the organization of large-scale structural and functional brain networks. However, data analysis is time consuming as rigorous procedures must be assured, from structuring data and pre-processing to modality specific data procedures. Until now, no single toolbox was able to perform such investigations on truly multimodal image data from beginning to end, including the combination of different connectivity analyses. Thus, we have developed the Multimodal Imaging Brain Connectivity Analysis (MIBCA) toolbox with the goal of diminishing time waste in data processing and to allow an innovative and comprehensive approach to brain connectivity. Materials and Methods. The MIBCA toolbox is a fully automated all-in-one connectivity toolbox that offers pre-processing, connectivity and graph theoretical analyses of multimodal image data such as diffusion-weighted imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). It was developed in MATLAB environment and pipelines well-known neuroimaging softwares such as Freesurfer, SPM, FSL, and Diffusion Toolkit. It further implements routines for the construction of structural, functional and effective or combined connectivity matrices, as well as, routines for the extraction and calculation of imaging and graph-theory metrics, the latter using also functions from the Brain Connectivity Toolbox. Finally, the toolbox performs group statistical analysis and enables data visualization in the form of matrices, 3D brain graphs and connectograms. In this paper the MIBCA toolbox is presented by illustrating its capabilities using multimodal image data from a group of 35 healthy subjects (19-73 years old) with volumetric T1-weighted, diffusion tensor imaging, and resting state fMRI data, and 10 subjets with 18F-Altanserin PET data also. Results. It was observed both a high inter-hemispheric symmetry and an intra-hemispheric modularity associated with structural data, whilst functional data presented lower inter-hemispheric symmetry and a high inter-hemispheric modularity. Furthermore, when testing for differences between two subgroups (<40 and >40 years old adults) we observed a significant reduction in the volume and thickness, and an increase in the mean diffusivity of most of the subcortical/cortical regions. Conclusion. While bridging the gap between the high numbers of packages and tools widely available for the neuroimaging community in one toolbox, MIBCA also offers different possibilities for combining, analysing and visualising data in novel ways, enabling a better understanding of the human brain.
Pubmed ID: 26207191 RIS Download
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Open source software suite for processing and analyzing human brain MRI images. Used for reconstruction of brain cortical surface from structural MRI data, and overlay of functional MRI data onto reconstructed surface. Contains automatic structural imaging stream for processing cross sectional and longitudinal data. Provides anatomical analysis tools, including: representation of cortical surface between white and gray matter, representation of the pial surface, segmentation of white matter from rest of brain, skull stripping, B1 bias field correction, nonlinear registration of cortical surface of individual with stereotaxic atlas, labeling of regions of cortical surface, statistical analysis of group morphometry differences, and labeling of subcortical brain structures.Operating System: Linux, macOS.
View all literature mentionsProbabilistic reference system for human brain, including tools to establish this reference system for structural and functional anatomy on both macroscopic (in vivo) and microscopic (post mortem) levels. Project has expanded neuroinformatics tools for data sharing and created Conforming Site System that allows laboratories worldwide to contribute data to evolving atlas. Through implementation of ICBM data sharing policy space, they are fostering data exchange while still providing for scientific credit assignment and subject confidentiality.ICBM atlas collection consists of ICBM Template, tool developed to provide reference that includes both set of coordinates and associated anatomical labels; the ICBM 452 T1 atlas, average of T1-weighted MRIs of normal young adult brains, ICBM probabilistic atlases, and Cytoarchitectonic Atlas. ICBM Subject Database is web-based database infrastructure that simplifies image dataset collection, organization and dissemination. Authorized users may view representations of data and form collections of datasets that can be downloaded or fed directly into Pipeline environment for distributed processing and analysis.
View all literature mentionsSoftware tool as a cross-platform NIfTI format image viewer. Used for viewing and exporting of brain images. MRIcroGL is a variant of MRIcron.
View all literature mentionsMatlab based cross platform software package for computation, display, and analysis of functional connectivity in fMRI (fcMRI). Used for resting state data (rsfMRI) as well as task related designs. Covers pipeline from raw fMRI data to hypothesis testing.
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