Dataset Information

Creating physical 3D stereolithograph models of brain and skull.

ABSTRACT: The human brain and skull are three dimensional (3D) anatomical structures with complex surfaces. However, medical images are often two dimensional (2D) and provide incomplete visualization of structural morphology. To overcome this loss in dimension, we developed and validated a freely available, semi-automated pathway to build 3D virtual reality (VR) and hand-held, stereolithograph models. To evaluate whether surface visualization in 3D was more informative than in 2D, undergraduate students (n = 50) used the Gillespie scale to rate 3D VR and physical models of both a living patient-volunteer's brain and the skull of Phineas Gage, a historically famous railroad worker whose misfortune with a projectile tamping iron provided the first evidence of a structure-function relationship in brain. Using our processing pathway, we successfully fabricated human brain and skull replicas and validated that the stereolithograph model preserved the scale of the VR model. Based on the Gillespie ratings, students indicated that the biological utility and quality of visual information at the surface of VR and stereolithograph models were greater than the 2D images from which they were derived. The method we developed is useful to create VR and stereolithograph 3D models from medical images and can be used to model hard or soft tissue in living or preserved specimens. Compared to 2D images, VR and stereolithograph models provide an extra dimension that enhances both the quality of visual information and utility of surface visualization in neuroscience and medicine.

SUBMITTER: Kelley DJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2040197 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Creating physical 3D stereolithograph models of brain and skull.

Kelley Daniel J DJ Farhoud Mohammed M Meyerand M Elizabeth ME Nelson David L DL Ramirez Lincoln F LF Dempsey Robert J RJ Wolf Alan J AJ Alexander Andrew L AL Davidson Richard J RJ

PloS one 20071031 10

The human brain and skull are three dimensional (3D) anatomical structures with complex surfaces. However, medical images are often two dimensional (2D) and provide incomplete visualization of structural morphology. To overcome this loss in dimension, we developed and validated a freely available, semi-automated pathway to build 3D virtual reality (VR) and hand-held, stereolithograph models. To evaluate whether surface visualization in 3D was more informative than in 2D, undergraduate students ( ...[more]

PMID: 17971879

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Project description:In neuroscience, stereotactic brain surgery is a standard yet challenging technique for which laboratory and veterinary personnel must be sufficiently and properly trained. There is currently no animal-free training option for neurosurgeries; stereotactic techniques are learned and practiced on dead animals. Here we have used three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies to create rat and mouse skin-skull-brain models, specifically conceived for rodent stereotaxic surgery training. We used 3D models obtained from microCT pictures and printed them using materials that would provide the most accurate haptic feedback for each model-PC-ABS material for the rat and Durable resin for the mouse. We filled the skulls with Polyurethane expanding foam to mimic the brain. In order to simulate rodent skin, we added a rectangular 1mm thick clear silicone sheet on the skull. Ten qualified rodent neurosurgeons then performed a variety of stereotaxic surgeries on these rat and mouse 3D printed models. Participants evaluated models fidelity compared to cadaveric skulls and their appropriateness for educational use. The 3D printed rat and mouse skin-skull-brain models received an overwhelmingly positive response. They were perceived as very realistic, and considered an excellent alternative to cadaveric skulls for training purposes. They can be made rapidly and at low cost. Our real-size 3D printed replicas could enable cost- and time-efficient, animal-free neurosurgery training. They can be absolute replacements for stereotaxic surgery techniques practice including but not limited to craniotomies, screw placement, brain injections, implantations and cement applications. This project is a significant step forward in implementing the replacement, reduction, and refinement (3Rs) principles to animal experimentation. These 3D printed models could lead the way to the complete replacement of live animals for stereotaxic surgery training in laboratories and veterinary studies.

Project description:The brain and skull represent a complex arrangement of integrated anatomical structures composed of various cell and tissue types that maintain structural and functional association throughout development. Morphological integration, a concept developed in vertebrate morphology and evolutionary biology, describes the coordinated variation of functionally and developmentally related traits of organisms. Syndromic craniosynostosis is characterized by distinctive changes in skull morphology and perceptible, though less well studied, changes in brain structure and morphology. Using mouse models for craniosynostosis conditions, our group has precisely defined how unique craniosynostosis causing mutations in fibroblast growth factor receptors affect brain and skull morphology and dysgenesis involving coordinated tissue-specific effects of these mutations. Here we examine integration of brain and skull in two mouse models for craniosynostosis: one carrying the FGFR2c C342Y mutation associated with Pfeiffer and Crouzon syndromes and a mouse model carrying the FGFR2 S252W mutation, one of two mutations responsible for two-thirds of Apert syndrome cases. Using linear distances estimated from three-dimensional coordinates of landmarks acquired from dual modality imaging of skull (high resolution micro-computed tomography and magnetic resonance microscopy) of mice at embryonic day 17.5, we confirm variation in brain and skull morphology in Fgfr2cC342Y/+ mice, Fgfr2+/S252W mice, and their unaffected littermates. Mutation-specific variation in neural and cranial tissue notwithstanding, patterns of integration of brain and skull differed only subtly between mice carrying either the FGFR2c C342Y or the FGFR2 S252W mutation and their unaffected littermates. However, statistically significant and substantial differences in morphological integration of brain and skull were revealed between the two mutant mouse models, each maintained on a different strain. Relative to the effects of disease-associated mutations, our results reveal a stronger influence of the background genome on patterns of brain-skull integration and suggest robust genetic, developmental, and evolutionary relationships between neural and skeletal tissues of the head.

Dataset Information

Creating physical 3D stereolithograph models of brain and skull.

Publications

Creating physical 3D stereolithograph models of brain and skull.

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