Opening the Pig to Comparative Neuroimaging: A Common Space Approach Contextualizes the Pig and Human Structural Connectome

Abstract

Neuroimaging’s capability to quickly and rapidly phenotype the cortical organization of the whole brain brings with it the possibility to extend our understanding of cortical organization across the mammalian lineage. However, neuroimaging has thus far generally limited itself to a small number of species, with most animal studies being performed in either rodents or Non-Human Primates. Here we perform a first pass characterization of an animal which has recently seen its stock rise in the neuroscience community with the development of new models of neurological disease; the domestic pig. Characterizing the structural connectome of the pig, we create a white matter atlas, and an anatomical template which we use to build a horizontal translation between the pig and human based on a connectivity blueprint approach. We find that conserved trends of structural connectivity across species enabled spatial prediction of regions of interest between the pig and human, showing the potential horizontal translations have as a tool to assess the translational validity of porcine models of neurological disease. Releasing the anatomical template, white matter atlas, and connectivity blueprints, we hope to ease and promote the acceptance of the pig as an alternative large-animal model by the neuroimaging community.