An open access resource for functional brain connectivity from fully awake marmosets

Authors

David J. Schaeffer, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States. Electronic address: dschaeff@pitt.edu.
L Martyn Klassen, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Yuki Hori, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Xiaoguang Tian, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States.
Diego Szczupak, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States.
Cecil Chern-Chyi Yen, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States.
Justine C. Cléry, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Kyle M. Gilbert, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Joseph S. Gati, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Ravi S. Menon, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
CiRong Liu, Institute of Neuroscience, Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Stefan Everling, Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.Follow
Afonso C. Silva, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-15-2022

Journal

NeuroImage

Volume

252

First Page

119030

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119030

Abstract

The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is quickly gaining traction as a premier neuroscientific model. However, considerable progress is still needed in understanding the functional and structural organization of the marmoset brain to rival that documented in longstanding preclinical model species, like mice, rats, and Old World primates. To accelerate such progress, we present the Marmoset Functional Brain Connectivity Resource (marmosetbrainconnectome.org), currently consisting of over 70 h of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) data acquired at 500 µm isotropic resolution from 31 fully awake marmosets in a common stereotactic space. Three-dimensional functional connectivity (FC) maps for every cortical and subcortical gray matter voxel are stored online. Users can instantaneously view, manipulate, and download any whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) topology (at the subject- or group-level) along with the raw datasets and preprocessing code. Importantly, researchers can use this resource to test hypotheses about FC directly - with no additional analyses required - yielding whole-brain correlations for any gray matter voxel on demand. We demonstrate the resource's utility for presurgical planning and comparison with tracer-based neuronal connectivity as proof of concept. Complementing existing structural connectivity resources for the marmoset brain, the Marmoset Functional Brain Connectivity Resource affords users the distinct advantage of exploring the connectivity of any voxel in the marmoset brain, not limited to injection sites nor constrained by regional atlases. With the entire raw database (RS-fMRI and structural images) and preprocessing code openly available for download and use, we expect this resource to be broadly valuable to test novel hypotheses about the functional organization of the marmoset brain.