Pineal gland is a midline structure of the brain, and is considered as the main part of the epithalamus. There are numerous reports on the facilitatory role of this area for brain function; hormone secretion and its role in sleep cycle are the major reports. However, rare reports are available on the direct role of this structure in brain cognition and in information processing. One suggestion for the limited number of such studies is the lack of a standard atlas for the pineal gland; none of the available MRI templates and atlases has provided parcellations for this structure. In this study, we used the three-dimensional T1-weighted MRI data of 152 healthy young volunteers, and provided a probabilistic map of the pineal gland in the standard MNI space. The methods included collecting data using a 64-channel head coil on a 3Tesla Prisma MRI Scanner, manual delineation of the pineal gland by two experts, and robust template and atlas construction algorithms. This atlas is freely accessible, and we hope importing this atlas in the well-known neuroimaging software packages would help to identify other probable roles of the pineal gland in brain function. It could also be used to study pineal cysts, for volumetric analyses, and to test any association between the structure of the pineal gland and the cognitive abilities of the human.

中文翻译：

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标准空间中的松果体概率图集

松果体是大脑的中线结构，被认为是上丘脑的主要部分。关于该区域对脑功能的促进作用的报道很多。激素分泌及其在睡眠周期中的作用是主要报道。但是，关于这种结构在大脑认知和信息处理中的直接作用的报道很少。此类研究数量有限的一个建议是缺乏针对松果体的标准图谱。没有可用的MRI模板和地图集为此结构提供了分隔。在这项研究中，我们使用了152名健康年轻志愿者的三维T1加权MRI数据，并提供了标准MNI空间中松果体的概率图。这些方法包括在3Tesla Prisma MRI扫描仪上使用64通道磁头线圈收集数据，由两名专家手动绘制松果体轮廓以及可靠的模板和地图集构造算法。此地图集可免费获取，我们希望将其输入到著名的神经影像软件包中，将有助于确定松果体在脑功能中的其他可能作用。它也可以用于研究松果体囊肿，进行体积分析，并测试松果体结构与人类认知能力之间的任何关联。我们希望将此图集导入著名的神经影像软件包中，将有助于确定松果体在脑功能中的其他可能作用。它也可以用于研究松果体囊肿，进行体积分析，并测试松果体结构与人类认知能力之间的任何关联。我们希望将此图集导入著名的神经影像软件包中，将有助于确定松果体在脑功能中的其他可能作用。它也可以用于研究松果体囊肿，进行体积分析，并测试松果体结构与人类认知能力之间的任何关联。