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Abstract #1712

High-Resolution Post-Mortem Diffusion MRI Acquisitions for Connectivity Analyses in Chimpanzees

Cornelius Eichner1, Michael Paquette1, Guillermo Gallardo1, Christian Bock2, Jenny E. Jaffe3,4, Carsten Jäger1, Evgeniya Kirilina1,5, Ilona Lipp1, Toralf Mildner1, Torsten Schlumm1, Felizitas C Wermter2, Harald E. Möller1, Nikolaus Weiskopf1, Catherine Crockford4,6, Roman Wittig4,6, Angela D Friederici1, and Alfred Anwander1
1Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany, 2Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany, 3Project Group Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany, 4Tai Chimpanzee Project, Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Cote d'IVoire, Abidjan, Cote D'ivoire, 5Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 6Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

Detailed neuroanatomical comparisons between humans and chimpanzees could greatly benefit evolutionary neuroscience. However, ethical considerations regarding primate research disallow acquisitions of chimpanzee MRI data in vivo for multiple years. Hence, the availability of diffusion MRI (dMRI) and tractography data from chimpanzees is limited to a few previously acquired datasets. Here we optimize diffusion acquisitions for an interdisciplinary approach to great ape neuroimaging, using post-mortem dMRI data from naturally deceased wild and captive animals. The optimization of data quality from two acquisition strategies allowed to us acquire chimpanzee diffusion MRI data of unpreceded quality and reopen a gateway for evolutionary neuroscience.

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