Microscopic anatomical atlas study on the lateral ventricles of the rabbit cerebrum and its related structures

The rabbit brain model is commonly applied in neuroscience, including basic science, neuro medicine, and neural network, etc. The rabbit brain is more suitable than the mouse one for a microscopic neuroanatomy atlas study due to its suitable size and shape. Lateral ventricles are essential landmarks that enable a three-dimensional structure understanding of the rabbit cerebrum. Knowledge about how the nervous structures outside the neural tube amplify and contort around the lateral ventricles would help in the understanding of the rabbit cerebrum's three-dimensional organization. Ten rabbits were used in this study. After fixation for at least two weeks, rabbits’ heads were dissected and micro-operative anatomy photographs were taken using the stereomicroscope camera. All figures were divided into three parts: lateral ventricles body; choroid fissure and the thalamus-cerebrum space; partition and connection between the left and right lateral ventricles. Under the stereoscopic microscope, it can be observed that: rabbit cerebrum left and right lateral ventricles were wrapped by the grey and white matter layers; hippocampal formation, relatively older cortical structures in the cerebrum, coiled inward by newer cortex; the curly edges of the cortex made the choroid fissure, namely the potential opening between the lateral ventricles (left and right) and cerebrum surface. The three-dimensional structure atlas also showed cortex folding and coil and that cortex with the hippocampal formation was centered in the thalamus, while the thalamus was in a direct extension relationship with the cortex-hippocampus formation. The relationship between the thalamus and the cortex-hippocampus formation should be noticed in neural network research as it suggests that the thalamus may be at the core of the cerebrum network. If we could have a correct understanding of rabbit cerebrum three-dimensional structure via microscopic anatomical atlas under the microscope before the section research, we would be able to assembly the local neural network structures in the brain constructed by section research into a complete cerebrum network properly. •Micro-dissection techniques were first applied to the rabbit brain.•Microscopic anatomical atlas could show three-dimensional spatial relationship of rabbit cerebrum and related structures.•Three-dimensional microscopic anatomical atlas is important reference for study of brain structure and function.