Imaging the Diversity of Mammalian Brains: An Electronic Catalog for Wide Accessibility

有两个无价的哺乳动物大脑的神经解剖学收藏，代表了120多个物种和所有主要的哺乳动物群体，包括一些现在稀有或濒危的物种。该项目是将所有这些材料制作成视频光盘的电子目录的第一步。测试将被用来决定哪种方法是制作和存储数千张准备好的组织切片的高质量图像的最佳手段，这些切片具有足够的视觉分辨率，用于解剖工作。这种不可替代的组织用于研究和教学的新途径的潜在影响是巨大的，它提供了关于已经保存下来的稀有或濒危物种的极好的解剖学信息，而不牺牲任何更多的标本，向任何感兴趣的研究人员广泛分发数据，并为教学计划提供插图。这项工作也可能为帮助其他藏品转向电子可访问的格式提供一个模式。

There are two priceless neuroanatomical collections of a range of mammalian brains, representing more than 120 species and all the major groups of mammals, including some now rare or endangered species. This project is the first step in making an electronically available catalog of all this material on video discs. Tests will be used to decide which is the best means of producing and storing quality images of the thousands of prepared tissue slides, with adequate visual resolution for anatomical work. The potential impact of a new accessibility of this irreplaceable tissue for research and teaching is enormous, providing excellent anatomical information on rare or endangered species already preserved without sacrificing any more specimens, wide distribution of data to any interested researcher, and illustrations for instructional programs. This work also may provide a model for helping other collections move into electronically accessible formats.