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Zhong T, Wu X, Liang S, Ning Z, Wang L, Niu Y, Yang S, Kang Z, Feng Q, Li G, Zhang Y. nBEST: Deep-learning-based non-human primates Brain Extraction and Segmentation Toolbox across ages, sites and species. Neuroimage 2024; 295:120652. [PMID: 38797384 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2024] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Accurate processing and analysis of non-human primate (NHP) brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) serves an indispensable role in understanding brain evolution, development, aging, and diseases. Despite the accumulation of diverse NHP brain MRI datasets at various developmental stages and from various imaging sites/scanners, existing computational tools designed for human MRI typically perform poor on NHP data, due to huge differences in brain sizes, morphologies, and imaging appearances across species, sites, and ages, highlighting the imperative for NHP-specialized MRI processing tools. To address this issue, in this paper, we present a robust, generic, and fully automated computational pipeline, called non-human primates Brain Extraction and Segmentation Toolbox (nBEST), whose main functionality includes brain extraction, non-cerebrum removal, and tissue segmentation. Building on cutting-edge deep learning techniques by employing lifelong learning to flexibly integrate data from diverse NHP populations and innovatively constructing 3D U-NeXt architecture, nBEST can well handle structural NHP brain MR images from multi-species, multi-site, and multi-developmental-stage (from neonates to the elderly). We extensively validated nBEST based on, to our knowledge, the largest assemblage dataset in NHP brain studies, encompassing 1,469 scans with 11 species (e.g., rhesus macaques, cynomolgus macaques, chimpanzees, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, etc.) from 23 independent datasets. Compared to alternative tools, nBEST outperforms in precision, applicability, robustness, comprehensiveness, and generalizability, greatly benefiting downstream longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-species quantitative analyses. We have made nBEST an open-source toolbox (https://github.com/TaoZhong11/nBEST) and we are committed to its continual refinement through lifelong learning with incoming data to greatly contribute to the research field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Zhong
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xueyang Wu
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shujun Liang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhenyuan Ning
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Li Wang
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA
| | - Yuyu Niu
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research, Institute of Primate Translational Medicine, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
| | - Shihua Yang
- College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhuang Kang
- Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qianjin Feng
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Gang Li
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Research Imaging Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA.
| | - Yu Zhang
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Image Processing and Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Medical Imaging and Diagnostic Technology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
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2
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Johnson BJ, Barcus RA, Olson JD, Lipford ME, Andrews RN, Dugan GO, Tooze JA, Kim J, Deycmar S, Whitlow CT, Cline JM. Total-Body Irradiation Alters White Matter Volume and Microstructural Integrity in Rhesus Macaques. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 2024; 119:208-218. [PMID: 37972714 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2023.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 11/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Long-term survivors of brain irradiation can experience irreversible injury and cognitive impairment. T1-weighted and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used to evaluate brain volume and white matter (WM) microstructure in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions. The goal of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of single-dose total-body irradiation (TBI) or TBI with 5% partial-body sparing on brain volumetrics and WM integrity in macaques. METHODS AND MATERIALS We used MRI scans from a cohort of male rhesus macaques (age range, 3.6-22.8 years) to compare global and regional brain volumes and WM diffusion in survivors of TBI (T1-weighted, n = 137; diffusion tensor imaging, n = 121; dose range, 3.5-10 Gy) with unirradiated controls (T1-weighted, n = 48; diffusion tensor imaging, n = 38). RESULTS In all regions of interest, radiation affected age-related changes in fractional anisotropy, which tended to increase across age in both groups but to a lesser extent in the irradiated group (interaction P < .01). Depending on the region of interest, mean diffusivity decreased or remained the same across age in unirradiated animals, whereas it increased or did not change in irradiated animals. The increases in mean diffusivity were driven by changes in radial diffusivity, which followed similar trends across age. Axial diffusivity did not differ by irradiation status. Age-related changes in relative volumes in controls reflected normal trends in humans, with increasing WM and decreasing gray matter until middle age. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume did not differ across age in controls. WM volume was lower and CSF volume was higher in young irradiated macaques. WM volume was similar between groups, and CSF volume lower in older irradiated macaques. Gray matter volume was unaffected by radiation. CONCLUSIONS TBI results in delayed WM expansion and long-term disruption of WM integrity. Diffusion changes suggest that myelin injury in WM is a hallmark of late-delayed radiation-induced brain injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brendan J Johnson
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
| | - Richard A Barcus
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - John D Olson
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Megan E Lipford
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Rachel N Andrews
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Section on Radiation Biology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Greg O Dugan
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Janet A Tooze
- Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Jeongchul Kim
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Simon Deycmar
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - Christopher T Whitlow
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
| | - J Mark Cline
- Department of Pathology, Section on Comparative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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3
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Kim J, Barcus R, Lipford ME, Yuan H, Ririe DG, Jung Y, Vlasova RM, Styner M, Nader MA, Whitlow CT. Effects of multiple anesthetic exposures on rhesus macaque brain development: a longitudinal structural MRI analysis. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad463. [PMID: 38142289 PMCID: PMC10793576 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Concerns about the potential neurotoxic effects of anesthetics on developing brain exist. When making clinical decisions, the timing and dosage of anesthetic exposure are critical factors to consider due to their associated risks. In our study, we investigated the impact of repeated anesthetic exposures on the brain development trajectory of a cohort of rhesus monkeys (n = 26) over their first 2 yr of life, utilizing longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging data. We hypothesized that early or high-dose anesthesia exposure could negatively influence structural brain development. By employing the generalized additive mixed model, we traced the longitudinal trajectories of brain volume, cortical thickness, and white matter integrity. The interaction analysis revealed that age and cumulative anesthetic dose were variably linked to white matter integrity but not to morphometric measures. Early high-dose exposure was associated with increased mean, axial, and radial diffusivities across all white matter regions, compared to late-low-dose exposure. Our findings indicate that early or high-dose anesthesia exposure during infancy disrupts structural brain development in rhesus monkeys. Consequently, the timing of elective surgeries and procedures that require anesthesia for children and pregnant women should be strategically planned to account for the cumulative dose of volatile anesthetics, aiming to minimize the potential risks to brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeongchul Kim
- Radiology Informatics and Image Processing Laboratory (RIIPL), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Richard Barcus
- Radiology Informatics and Image Processing Laboratory (RIIPL), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Megan E Lipford
- Radiology Informatics and Image Processing Laboratory (RIIPL), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Hongyu Yuan
- Radiology Informatics and Image Processing Laboratory (RIIPL), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Douglas G Ririe
- Pain Mechanisms Lab, Department of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Youngkyoo Jung
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Roza M Vlasova
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Martin Styner
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
| | - Michael A Nader
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Center for Research on Substance Use and Addiction, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
| | - Christopher T Whitlow
- Radiology Informatics and Image Processing Laboratory (RIIPL), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Center for Research on Substance Use and Addiction, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
- Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
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4
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He S, Guan Y, Cheng CH, Moore TL, Luebke JI, Killiany RJ, Rosene DL, Koo BB, Ou Y. Human-to-monkey transfer learning identifies the frontal white matter as a key determinant for predicting monkey brain age. Front Aging Neurosci 2023; 15:1249415. [PMID: 38020785 PMCID: PMC10646581 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1249415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to summarize a whole-brain magnetic resonance image (MRI) into an effective "brain age" metric can provide a holistic, individualized, and objective view of how the brain interacts with various factors (e.g., genetics and lifestyle) during aging. Brain age predictions using deep learning (DL) have been widely used to quantify the developmental status of human brains, but their wider application to serve biomedical purposes is under criticism for requiring large samples and complicated interpretability. Animal models, i.e., rhesus monkeys, have offered a unique lens to understand the human brain - being a species in which aging patterns are similar, for which environmental and lifestyle factors are more readily controlled. However, applying DL methods in animal models suffers from data insufficiency as the availability of animal brain MRIs is limited compared to many thousands of human MRIs. We showed that transfer learning can mitigate the sample size problem, where transferring the pre-trained AI models from 8,859 human brain MRIs improved monkey brain age estimation accuracy and stability. The highest accuracy and stability occurred when transferring the 3D ResNet [mean absolute error (MAE) = 1.83 years] and the 2D global-local transformer (MAE = 1.92 years) models. Our models identified the frontal white matter as the most important feature for monkey brain age predictions, which is consistent with previous histological findings. This first DL-based, anatomically interpretable, and adaptive brain age estimator could broaden the application of AI techniques to various animal or disease samples and widen opportunities for research in non-human primate brains across the lifespan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng He
- Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Yi Guan
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Chia Hsin Cheng
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Tara L. Moore
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jennifer I. Luebke
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ronald J. Killiany
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Douglas L. Rosene
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Bang-Bon Koo
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Yangming Ou
- Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States
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5
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Zhu J, Hammond BM, Zhou XM, Constantinidis C. Laminar pattern of adolescent development changes in working memory neuronal activity. J Neurophysiol 2023; 130:980-989. [PMID: 37703490 PMCID: PMC10649837 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00294.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Adolescent development is characterized by an improvement in cognitive abilities, such as working memory. Neurophysiological recordings in a nonhuman primate model of adolescence have revealed changes in neural activity that mirror improvement in behavior, including higher firing rate during the delay intervals of working memory tasks. The laminar distribution of these changes is unknown. By some accounts, persistent activity is more pronounced in superficial layers, so we sought to determine whether changes are most pronounced there. We therefore analyzed neurophysiological recordings from the young and adult stage of male monkeys, at different cortical depths. Superficial layers exhibited an increased baseline firing rate in the adult stage. Unexpectedly, we also detected substantial increases in delay period activity in the middle layers after adolescence, which was confirmed even after excluding penetrations near sulci. Finally, improved discriminability around the saccade period was most evident in the deeper layers. These results reveal the laminar pattern of neural activity maturation that is associated with cognitive improvement.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Structural brain changes are evident during adolescent development particularly in the cortical thickness of the prefrontal cortex, at a time when working memory ability increases markedly. The depth distribution of neurophysiological changes during adolescence is not known. Here, we show that neurophysiological changes are not confined to superficial layers, which have most often been implicated in the maintenance of working memory. Contrary to expectations, substantial changes were evident in intermediate layers of the prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junda Zhu
- Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
| | - Benjamin M Hammond
- Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
| | - Xin Maizie Zhou
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
- Department of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
| | - Christos Constantinidis
- Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
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6
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Pittet F, Hinde K. Meager Milk: Lasting Consequences for Adult Daughters of Primiparous Mothers Among Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta). Integr Comp Biol 2023; 63:569-584. [PMID: 37170073 PMCID: PMC10503474 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icad022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2023] [Revised: 04/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Among mammals, primipara who initiate reproduction before full maturity can be constrained in their maternal investment, both due to fewer somatic resources and tradeoffs between their own continued development and reproductive effort. Primipara are particularly limited in their capacity to synthesize milk during lactation, the costliest aspect of reproduction for most mammals, especially primates due to long periods of postnatal development. Due to reduced milk transfer, Firstborns may be at elevated risk for long-term consequences of deficits in early life endowment from their primiparous mothers. Here we investigated mass, growth, stature, and lactation performance among N = 273 adult daughters across N = 335 reproductions, who were their own mother's Firstborn or Laterborn progeny, among rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at the California National Primate Research Center. We further explored mass during infancy of the offspring of Firstborn and Laterborn mothers. Firstborns had accelerated growth during infancy, but had slowed growth during juvenility, compared to Laterborns. Although both Firstborns and Laterborns were the same age at reproductive debut, Firstborns had lower body mass, an effect that persisted throughout the reproductive career. Available milk energy, the product of milk energetic density and milk yield, was on average 16% lower for Firstborns compared to Laterborns, a difference that was only partially mediated by their lower mass. Despite differences in their mothers' energy provision through milk, the mass of infants of Firstborn and Laterborn mothers did not differ at peak lactation, suggesting that infants of Firstborns devote a higher proportion of milk energy to growth than infants of Laterborns. To date few studies have explored how early life conditions shape capacities to synthesize milk and milk composition. Our findings contribute new information among primates on how early life maternal endowments are associated with persistent effects long after the period of maternal dependence well into reproductive maturity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Pittet
- Neuroscience and Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Katie Hinde
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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7
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Zhu J, Hammond BM, Zhou XM, Constantinidis C. Laminar pattern of adolescent development changes in working memory neuronal activity. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.07.28.550982. [PMID: 37546979 PMCID: PMC10402138 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.28.550982] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Adolescent development is characterized by an improvement in cognitive abilities, such as working memory. Neurophysiological recordings in a non-human primate model of adolescence have revealed changes in neural activity that mirror improvement in behavior, including higher firing rate during the delay intervals of working memory tasks. The laminar distribution of these changes is unknown. By some accounts, persistent activity is more pronounced in superficial layers, so we sought to determine whether changes are most pronounced there. We therefore analyzed neurophysiological recordings from neurons recorded in the young and adult stage, at different cortical depths. Superficial layers exhibited increased baseline firing rate in the adult stage. Unexpectedly, changes in persistent activity were most pronounced in the middle layers. Finally, improved discriminability of stimulus location was most evident in the deeper layers. These results reveal the laminar pattern of neural activity maturation that is associated with cognitive improvement. NEW AND NOTEWORTHY Structural brain changes are evident during adolescent development particularly in the cortical thickness of the prefrontal cortex, at a time when working memory ability increases markedly. The depth distribution of neurophysiological changes during adolescence is not known. Here we show that neurophysiological changes are not confined to superficial layers, which have most often been implicated in the maintenance of working memory. Contrary to expectations, greatest changes were evident in intermediate layers of the prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junda Zhu
- Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
| | | | - Xin Maizie Zhou
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
- Department of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
| | - Christos Constantinidis
- Program in Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235
- Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37212
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8
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Ford A, Kovacs-Balint ZA, Wang A, Feczko E, Earl E, Miranda-Domínguez Ó, Li L, Styner M, Fair D, Jones W, Bachevalier J, Sánchez MM. Functional maturation in visual pathways predicts attention to the eyes in infant rhesus macaques: Effects of social status. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 60:101213. [PMID: 36774827 PMCID: PMC9925610 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101213] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Differences in looking at the eyes of others are one of the earliest behavioral markers for social difficulties in neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism. However, it is unknown how early visuo-social experiences relate to the maturation of infant brain networks that process visual social stimuli. We investigated functional connectivity (FC) within the ventral visual object pathway as a contributing neural system. Densely sampled, longitudinal eye-tracking and resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data were collected from infant rhesus macaques, an important model of human social development, from birth through 6 months of age. Mean trajectories were fit for both datasets and individual trajectories from subjects with both eye-tracking and rs-fMRI data were used to test for brain-behavior relationships. Exploratory findings showed infants with greater increases in FC between left V1 to V3 visual areas have an earlier increase in eye-looking before 2 months. This relationship was moderated by social status such that infants with low social status had a stronger association between left V1 to V3 connectivity and eye-looking than high status infants. Results indicated that maturation of the visual object pathway may provide an important neural substrate supporting adaptive transitions in social visual attention during infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aiden Ford
- Neuroscience Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Marcus Autism Center, USA.
| | | | - Arick Wang
- Emory Natl. Primate Res. Ctr., Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA, USA; Dept of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Eric Feczko
- Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Eric Earl
- Data Science and Sharing Team, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Óscar Miranda-Domínguez
- Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Longchuan Li
- Marcus Autism Center, USA; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, GA, USA; Dept. of Pediatrics, Emory University, Sch. of Med., Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Martin Styner
- Dept. of Psychiatry, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Damien Fair
- Dept. of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Warren Jones
- Marcus Autism Center, USA; Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, GA, USA; Dept. of Pediatrics, Emory University, Sch. of Med., Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Jocelyne Bachevalier
- Emory Natl. Primate Res. Ctr., Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA, USA; Dept of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Mar M Sánchez
- Emory Natl. Primate Res. Ctr., Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA, USA; Dept. Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Emory Univ., Sch. of Med., Atlanta, GA, USA
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9
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Cui Y, Huang H, Gao J, Jiang T, Zhang C, Yu S. Mapping blood traits to structural organization of the brain in rhesus monkeys. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:247-257. [PMID: 35253862 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Hematological and biochemical blood traits have been linked to brain structural characteristics in humans. However, the relationship between these two domains has not been systematically explored in nonhuman primates, which are crucial animal models for understanding the mechanisms of brain function and developing therapeutics for various disorders. Here we investigated the associations between hematological/biochemical parameters and the brain's gray matter volume and white matter integrity derived from T1-weighted and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging in 36 healthy macaques. We found that intersubject variations in basophil count and hemoglobin levels correlated with gray matter volumes in the anterior cingulum, prefrontal cortex, and putamen. Through interactions between these key elements, the blood parameters' covariation network was linked with that of the brain structures, forming overarching networks connecting blood traits with structural brain features. These networks exhibited hierarchical small-world architecture, indicating highly effective interactions between their constituent elements. In addition, different subnetworks of the brain areas or fiber tracts tended to correlate with unique groups of blood indices, revealing previously unknown brain structural organization. These results provide a quantitative characterization of the interactions between blood parameters and brain structures in macaques and may increase the understanding of the body-brain relationship and the pathogenesis of relevant disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Cui
- Brainnetome Center and National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Haibin Huang
- Brainnetome Center and National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jinquan Gao
- Model R&D Center, Life Biosciences Company Limited, Beijing 100176, China.,Technology Management Center, SAFE Pharmaceutical Technology Company Limited, Beijing 100176, China
| | - Tianzi Jiang
- Brainnetome Center and National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, China
| | - Chen Zhang
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Repair, Advanced Innovation Center for Human Brain Protection, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Shan Yu
- Brainnetome Center and National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.,School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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10
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Wilder L, Semendeferi K. Infant Brain Development and Plasticity from an Evolutionary Perspective. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-76000-7_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
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11
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Kovacs-Balint ZA, Payne C, Steele J, Li L, Styner M, Bachevalier J, Sanchez MM. Structural development of cortical lobes during the first 6 months of life in infant macaques. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 48:100906. [PMID: 33465553 PMCID: PMC7815644 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
This study mapped the developmental trajectories of cortical regions in comparison to overall brain growth in typically developing, socially-housed infant macaques. Volumetric changes of cortical brain regions were examined longitudinally between 2-24 weeks of age (equivalent to the first 2 years in humans) in 21 male rhesus macaques. Growth of the prefrontal, frontal, parietal, occipital, and temporal cortices (visual and auditory) was examined using MRI and age-specific infant macaque brain atlases developed by our group. Results indicate that cortical volumetric development follows a cubic growth curve, but maturational timelines and growth rates are region-specific. Total intracranial volume (ICV) increased significantly during the first 5 months of life, leveling off thereafter. Prefrontal and temporal visual cortices showed fast volume increases during the first 16 weeks, followed by a plateau, and significant growth again between 20-24 weeks. Volume of the frontal and temporal auditory cortices increased substantially between 2-24 weeks. The parietal cortex showed a significant volume increase during the first 4 months, whereas the volume of the occipital lobe increased between 2-12 weeks and plateaued thereafter. These developmental trajectories show similarities to cortical growth in human infants, providing foundational information necessary to build nonhuman primate (NHP) models of human neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z A Kovacs-Balint
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - C Payne
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States; Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - J Steele
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States
| | - L Li
- Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States; Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States
| | - M Styner
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514, United States
| | - J Bachevalier
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States; Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States
| | - M M Sanchez
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, United States; Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, United States.
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12
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Aggarwal N, Moody JF, Dean DC, Tromp DPM, Kecskemeti SR, Oler JA, Alexander AL, Kalin NH. Spatiotemporal dynamics of nonhuman primate white matter development during the first year of life. Neuroimage 2021; 231:117825. [PMID: 33549752 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2020] [Revised: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
White matter (WM) development early in life is a critical component of brain development that facilitates the coordinated function of neuronal pathways. Additionally, alterations in WM have been implicated in various neurodevelopmental disorders, including psychiatric disorders. Because of the need to understand WM development in the weeks immediately following birth, we characterized changes in WM microstructure throughout the postnatal macaque brain during the first year of life. This is a period in primates during which genetic, developmental, and environmental factors may have long-lasting impacts on WM microstructure. Studies in nonhuman primates (NHPs) are particularly valuable as a model for understanding human brain development because of their evolutionary relatedness to humans. Here, 34 rhesus monkeys (23 females, 11 males) were imaged longitudinally at 3, 7, 13, 25, and 53 weeks of age with T1-weighted (MPnRAGE) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). With linear mixed-effects (LME) modeling, we demonstrated robust logarithmic growth in FA, MD, and RD trajectories extracted from 18 WM tracts across the brain. Estimated rate of change curves for FA, MD, and RD exhibited an initial 10-week period of exceedingly rapid WM development, followed by a precipitous decline in growth rates. K-means clustering of raw DTI trajectories and rank ordering of LME model parameters revealed distinct posterior-to-anterior and medial-to-lateral gradients in WM maturation. Finally, we found that individual differences in WM microstructure assessed at 3 weeks of age were significantly related to those at 1 year of age. This study provides a quantitative characterization of very early WM growth in NHPs and lays the foundation for future work focused on the impact of alterations in early WM developmental trajectories in relation to human psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nakul Aggarwal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States.
| | - Jason F Moody
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Douglas C Dean
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States; Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53792, United States; Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Do P M Tromp
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States
| | - Steve R Kecskemeti
- Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Jonathan A Oler
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States
| | - Andy L Alexander
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States; Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States; Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705, United States
| | - Ned H Kalin
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719, United States
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13
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Lv Q, Yan M, Shen X, Wu J, Yu W, Yan S, Yang F, Zeljic K, Shi Y, Zhou Z, Lv L, Hu X, Menon R, Wang Z. Normative Analysis of Individual Brain Differences Based on a Population MRI-Based Atlas of Cynomolgus Macaques. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:341-355. [PMID: 32844170 PMCID: PMC7727342 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Revised: 07/05/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The developmental trajectory of the primate brain varies substantially with aging across subjects. However, this ubiquitous variability between individuals in brain structure is difficult to quantify and has thus essentially been ignored. Based on a large-scale structural magnetic resonance imaging dataset acquired from 162 cynomolgus macaques, we create a species-specific 3D template atlas of the macaque brain, and deploy normative modeling to characterize individual variations of cortical thickness (CT) and regional gray matter volume (GMV). We observed an overall decrease in total GMV and mean CT, and an increase in white matter volume from juvenile to early adult. Specifically, CT and regional GMV were greater in prefrontal and temporal cortices relative to early unimodal areas. Age-dependent trajectories of thickness and volume for each cortical region revealed an increase in the medial temporal lobe, and decreases in all other regions. A low percentage of highly individualized deviations of CT and GMV were identified (0.0021%, 0.0043%, respectively, P < 0.05, false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected). Our approach provides a natural framework to parse individual neuroanatomical differences for use as a reference standard in macaque brain research, potentially enabling inferences regarding the degree to which behavioral or symptomatic variables map onto brain structure in future disease studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiming Lv
- National Resource Center for Non-human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Mingchao Yan
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiangyu Shen
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Jing Wu
- National Resource Center for Non-human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Wenwen Yu
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Shengyao Yan
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Feng Yang
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Kristina Zeljic
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuequan Shi
- Department of Radiology, Fujian Provincial Maternity and Children’s Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
| | - Zuofu Zhou
- Department of Radiology, Fujian Provincial Maternity and Children’s Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China
| | - Longbao Lv
- National Resource Center for Non-human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Xintian Hu
- National Resource Center for Non-human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Ravi Menon
- Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping, Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Zheng Wang
- National Resource Center for Non-human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, and National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Institute of Neuroscience, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, CAS Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-inspired Intelligence Technology, Shanghai, China
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