DHARANI: 3D Histological Atlas of the Developing Human Brain, 14-24 Weeks

DHARANI provides three-dimensional histological reconstructions of the developing human brain from 14 to 24 gestational weeks. The platform features 5,132 stained sections, postmortem MRI, and a neuroanatomical atlas with 466 annotated sections covering approximately 500 brain structures. It was created by the Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre at IIT Madras.

Use Cases

• Study the initiation and development of brain sulci based on annotated sections from 14 to 24 gestational weeks.
• Analyze cortical plate lamination and cell layer patterning in different brain regions described in the dataset.
• Train segmentation models for brain structures using the provided atlas with ~500 annotated regions.
• Correlate histological features with postmortem MRI data for multimodal analysis of fetal brain anatomy.
• Investigate the development of specific structures like the cerebellar nuclei and Purkinje cell layer mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Includes 5,132 Nissl and H&E stained histological sections.
• Provides a neuroanatomical atlas with 466 annotated sections covering approximately 500 brain structures.
• Features multimodal data, including postmortem MRI and 3D reconstructions, enabling visualization in all anatomical planes.
• Covers a specific developmental time range from 14 to 24 gestational weeks across five fetal brains.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale computational tasks.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Sudha Gopalakrishnan Brain Centre, IIT Madras

Collection Method

Postmortem histological sectioning, staining, and 3D reconstruction of fetal brain specimens.

Time Range

14 to 24 gestational weeks