Constructing the rodent stereotaxic brain atlas: a survey

The stereotaxic brain atlas is a fundamental reference tool commonly used in the field of neuroscience. Here we provide a brief history of brain atlas development and clarify three key conceptual elements of stereotaxic brain atlasing: brain image, atlas, and stereotaxis. We also refine four technical indices for evaluating the construction of atlases: the quality of staining and labeling, the granularity of delineation, spatial resolution, and the precision of spatial location and orientation. Additionally, we discuss state-of-the-art technologies and their trends in the fields of image acquisition, stereotaxic coordinate construction, image processing, anatomical structure recognition, and publishing: the procedures of brain atlas illustration. We believe that the use of single-cell resolution and micron-level location precision will become a future trend in the study of the stereotaxic brain atlas, which will greatly benefit the development of neuroscience.