Research Stereotaxic Instrument w/ Computer Enhanced Accuracy

描述(申请人提供)：脑部疾病通常是长期的和致残的，他们的护理费用很高。2000年汇编的一份报告显示，10种最常见的脑部疾病每年新增110万例。1600多万人正在接受这些疾病的护理(www.care giver.org)。神经科学学会拥有36,000多名会员，旨在通过基础研究促进对健康和疾病大脑的了解，从而预防和治疗脑部疾病。MyNeuroLab.com的目标是为这些神经科学研究人员提供他们工作所需的尖端、专门的工具和仪器。该公司的产品包括立体定位仪。这些仪器被用来在研究动物的大脑中的特定点上定位探针。(类似的仪器也用于人类神经外科。)在使用这些仪器时，精确度至关重要。然而，由于生物变异和立体定位器械的安装和对准方面的不完善，在相当大比例的情况下，探针没有进入靶结构。这个问题直到组织学，在其他通常昂贵的测试完成后才被发现。提高立体定位的准确性将减少所需的研究动物的数量，节省时间，并降低神经科学研究的总体成本。MyNeuroLab.com已经开发出一种正在申请专利的立体定位仪器，该仪器有可能极大地提高立体定位的准确性。通过将五轴编码器输入计算机，该仪器提高了分辨率并计算入射角度，大大加快了探头放置过程。这项拟议的研究旨在开发计算机算法，以进一步提高仪器的精度。第一个目标是通过调整目标坐标以纠正头骨地标Bregma和Lambda垂直位置的偏差，从而纠正对准误差。其次，开发一个软件，实现一个在20世纪80年代测试过但后来很少使用的想法，利用这两个地标来计算动物的目标坐标。虽然比单独使用这两个里程碑更准确，但这种方法并没有得到普遍使用，可能是因为每次手术所需的复杂计算都很耗时，并引发了数学错误的幽灵。一旦坐标存储在计算机中，这些风险就会消除。第二阶段的提案将开发使用动物的数码照片或核磁共振图板作为地图集的选项。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Diseases of the brain are typically long term and disabling, and their care is expensive. A report compiled in 2000 shows 1.1 million new cases annually of the 10 most common brain diseases. More than 16 million persons receive ongoing care for these diseases (www.caregiver.org). With over 36,000 members, the Society for Neuroscience seeks to advance knowledge of the healthy and diseased brain through basic research, toward the prevention and treatment of brain disease. MyNeuroLab.com's objective is to support these neuroscience researchers with the cutting-edge, specialized tools and instruments they need to do their work. Among the company's products are stereotaxic instruments. These instruments are utilized to position probes at specific points in the brains of research animals. (Similar instruments are also used in human neurosurgery.) When using these instruments, accuracy is critical. Because of biological variations and imperfections in the installment and alignment in the stereotaxic instrument, however, probes do not enter the target structure in a significant percentage of cases. This problem is not discovered until histology, after other - often costly - tests have been completed. Improved stereotaxic accuracy would decrease the number of research animals needed, save time, and reduce the overall cost of neuroscience research. MyNeuroLab.com has developed a patent-pending stereotaxic instrument that has the potential to greatly improve stereotaxic accuracy. With five axes of encoder input to a computer, this instrument improves resolution and computes entry angles, greatly speeding the probe placement process. The proposed research aims to develop computer algorithms to further improve the instrument's accuracy. The first objective is to correct alignment errors by adjusting target coordinates for deviations in the vertical position of the skull landmarks, Bregma and Lambda. Second, create software that implements an idea tested in the 1980s, but little-used since, that uses both landmarks to figure an animal's target coordinates. While more accurate than using either landmark alone, this approach has not come into common use, perhaps because the complex calculations required for each surgery are time-consuming and raise the specter of mathematical error. Once the coordinates are stored in a computer, these risks are eliminated. A Phase II proposal will develop the option to use digital photos or MRI plates from the animal as the atlas.