Minimal specifications for non-human primate MRI: Challenges in standardizing and harmonizing data collection

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 236; p. 118082
• Main Authors: Autio, Joonas A., Zhu, Qi, Li, Xiaolian, Glasser, Matthew F., Schwiedrzik, Caspar M., Fair, Damien A., Zimmermann, Jan, Yacoub, Essa, Menon, Ravi S., Van Essen, David C., Hayashi, Takuya, Russ, Brian, Vanduffel, Wim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.08.2021; Elsevier Limited; Elsevier
• Subjects: Algorithms; Animal cognition; Animals; Biobanks; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Brain research; Data acquisition; Data collection; Data processing; Echo-Planar Imaging - methods; Echo-Planar Imaging - standards; Experiments; Functional Neuroimaging - methods; Functional Neuroimaging - standards; Laboratory animals; Macaca mulatta; Magnetic fields; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - standards; Medical imaging; MRI; Multi-site; Neuroimaging; Neuroimaging - methods; Neuroimaging - standards; Non-human primate; Physiology; PRIME-DE; Reproducibility; Reproducibility of Results; Software; Standardization; United Kingdom > UK; PRIME-DE; MRI; Standardization; Non-human primate; Multi-site
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118082

•Non-human primate MRI standardization.•Poor reproducibility in non-human primate resting-state fMRI.•Guidelines enable improved and more reproducible MRI measures.•Convergence between non-human primate and human neuroimaging strategies. Recent methodological advances in MRI have enabled substantial growth in neuroimaging studies of non-human primates (NHPs), while open data-sharing through the PRIME-DE initiative has increased the availability of NHP MRI data and the need for robust multi-subject multi-center analyses. Streamlined acquisition and analysis protocols would accelerate and improve these efforts. However, consensus on minimal standards for data acquisition protocols and analysis pipelines for NHP imaging remains to be established, particularly for multi-center studies. Here, we draw parallels between NHP and human neuroimaging and provide minimal guidelines for harmonizing and standardizing data acquisition. We advocate robust translation of widely used open-access toolkits that are well established for analyzing human data. We also encourage the use of validated, automated pre-processing tools for analyzing NHP data sets. These guidelines aim to refine methodological and analytical strategies for small and large-scale NHP neuroimaging data. This will improve reproducibility of results, and accelerate the convergence between NHP and human neuroimaging strategies which will ultimately benefit fundamental and translational brain science.