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The telencephalon of the Göttingen minipig, cytoarchitecture and cortical surface anatomy

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Abstract

During the last 20 years pigs have become increasingly popular in large animal translational neuroscience research as an economical and ethical feasible substitute to non-human primates. The anatomy of the pig telencephalon is, however, not well known. We present, accordingly, a detailed description of the surface anatomy and cytoarchitecture of the Göttingen minipig telencephalon based on macrophotos and consecutive high-power microphotographs of 15 μm thick paraffin embedded Nissl-stained coronal sections. In 1-year-old specimens the formalin perfused brain measures approximately 55 × 47 × 36 mm (length, width, height) and weighs around 69 g. The telencephalic part of the Göttingen minipig cerebrum covers a large surface area, which can be divided into a neocortical gyrencephalic part located dorsal to the rhinal fissure, and a ventral subrhinal part dominated by olfactory, amygdaloid, septal, and hippocampal structures. This part of the telencephalon is named the subrhinal lobe, and based on cytoarchitectural and sulcal anatomy, can be discerned from the remaining dorsally located neocortical perirhinal/insular, pericallosal, frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The inner subcortical structure of the minipig telencephalon is dominated by a prominent ventricular system and large basal ganglia, wherein the putamen and the caudate nucleus posterior and dorsally are separated into two entities by the internal capsule, whereas both structures ventrally fuse into a large accumbens nucleus. The presented anatomical data is accompanied by surface renderings and high-power macrophotographs illustrating the telencephalic sulcal pattern, and the localization of the identified lobes and cytoarchitectonic areas. Additionally, 24 representative Nissl-stained telencephalic coronal sections are presented as supplementary material in atlas form on http://www.cense.dk/minipig_atlas/index.html and referred to as S1–S24 throughout the manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge with gratitude the skillful assistance of Mrs. F. Gün, Ms. D. Jensen, Ms. K. S. Bech and Mr. A. Meier. The Danish Medical Research Council, and the Lundbeck Foundation supported financially the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Aalborg University Hospital, Hobrovej 16-22, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Carsten R. Bjarkam

  2. Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Carsten R. Bjarkam

  3. Center for Experimental Neuroscience (Cense), Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Aarhus, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Andreas N. Glud, Dariusz Orlowski & Jens Christian H. Sørensen

  4. Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, 52425, Jülich, Germany

    Nicola Palomero-Gallagher

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

    Nicola Palomero-Gallagher

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  1. Carsten R. Bjarkam
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Bjarkam, C.R., Glud, A.N., Orlowski, D. et al. The telencephalon of the Göttingen minipig, cytoarchitecture and cortical surface anatomy. Brain Struct Funct 222, 2093–2114 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-016-1327-5

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