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Only this suggested source can furnish the requirements, to the exclusion of other sources, because the source is the only manufacturer willing to adapt their frame to our requirements for our MRI scanner.
The Stereotaxic frame must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with the existing system presently installed.
As part of its service to the NIH community, the NIF must provide specialized equipment for shared use to a broad spectrum of researchers with various levels of expertise from Neuroscience fields. Several laboratories that work with marmosets at NIH have their own non-MRI compatible stereotaxic frames and are using NIF for brain imaging and design of surgical implants. The stereotaxic frame is a specialized piece of equipment that allows controlled and localized brain surgery using a three-dimensional coordinate system. Its use is highly versatile because it enables operations that require localized ablations and drug infusions, as well as electrode or cannulae implantation. These operations require the accurate placement of electrodes and injection needles into the defined anatomical areas within the brain. Use of separate setups for marmosets’ head fixation in neuroimaging scanners and during intracerebral surgery leads to non-shared coordinate space between these procedures. While it is possible to translate from the neuroimaging coordinate space onto surgical coordinate space, such transformation leads to reduced precision, requires time and computational resources, as well as makes each step a separate procedure, increasing health risks for marmosets. The main objective of purchasing the MRI-compatible stereotaxic frame is to streamline the transition between brain imaging and cerebral surgery by providing the common head fixation apparatus for both procedures.
The Neurophysiology Imaging Facility (NIF) was established to promote the development of new techniques and applications in brain imaging of non-human primates. As part of its service to the NIH community, the NIF must provide specialized equipment and software for shared use to a broad spectrum of researchers from varied Neuroscience fields within the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Eye Institute (NEI), and the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Stereotaxic surgery is used in behavioral neuroscience as a means for minimal invasive surgery upon animal brains utilizing a three-dimensional coordinate system for the accurate operations performed on a test animal’s brain. These operations are - but not limited to - ablation, lesion, injection, implantation, and stimulation. These operations require the accurate placement of electrodes and injection needles into the defined anatomical areas within the brain. Stereotaxic surgery is performed via the head's attachment to the stereotaxic frame apparatus. As primate brains show a substantial variation in size and surface shape, in many cases a pre-surgical brain and skull imaging are required for accurate surgical planning. Common marmoset is a small-bodied New World primate species that is gaining popularity as a model animal in various fields of Neuroscience and Biomedicine. At the moment the NIF lacks a stereotaxic frame compatible with the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT). Such a frame is needed to increase the precision and accuracy of intracerebral surgeries. Its purchase will enable quicker and more precise surgical procedures, as well as minimize failure rate, therefore also reducing the number of research subjects.
Additionally, the stereotaxic frame is a specialized piece of equipment that allows controlled and localized brain surgery using a three-dimensional coordinate system. Its use is highly versatile because it enables operations that require localized ablations and drug infusions, as well as electrode or cannulae implantation. These operations require the accurate placement of electrodes and injection needles into the defined anatomical areas within the brain. Use of separate setups for marmosets’ head fixation in neuroimaging scanners and during intracerebral surgery leads to non-shared coordinate space between these procedures. While it is possible to translate from the neuroimaging coordinate space onto surgical coordinate space, such transformation leads to reduced precision, requires time and computational resources, as well as makes each step a separate procedure, increasing health risks for marmosets. The main objective of purchasing the MRI-compatible stereotaxic frame is to streamline the transition between brain imaging and cerebral surgery by providing the common head fixation apparatus for both procedures.
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