Neuromorphological Atlas of Human Prenatal Brain Development: White Paper

Recent morphological data on human brain development are quite fragmentary. However, they are highly requested for a number of medical practices, educational programs, and fundamental research in the fields of embryology, cytology and histology, neurology, physiology, path anatomy, neonatology, and others. This paper provides the initial information on the new online Human Prenatal Brain Development Atlas (HBDA). The Atlas will start with forebrain annotated hemisphere maps, based on human fetal brain serial sections at the different stages of prenatal ontogenesis. Spatiotemporal changes in the regional-specific immunophenotype profiles will also be demonstrated on virtual serial sections. The HBDA can serve as a reference database for the neurological research, which provides opportunity to compare the data obtained by noninvasive techniques, such as neurosonography, X-ray computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging, 3D high-resolution phase-contrast computed tomography visualization techniques, as well as spatial transcriptomics data. It could also become a database for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of individual variability in the human brain. Systemized data on the mechanisms and pathways of prenatal human glio- and neurogenesis could also contribute to the search for new therapy methods for a large spectrum of neurological pathologies, including neurodegenerative and cancer diseases. The preliminary data are now accessible on the special HBDA website.

Automated summary

Recent data on human brain development are limited, but highly valuable for medical practices, education, and fundamental research in various fields. This paper introduces the new online Human Prenatal Brain Development Atlas (HBDA), which provides annotated hemisphere maps and immunophenotype profiles of human fetal brain at different stages of development. The HBDA serves as a reference database for neurological research, allowing comparison of data obtained from noninvasive techniques and analysis of individual brain variability. It also contributes to the understanding of prenatal neurogenesis and offers potential for new therapy methods for neurological pathologies. Preliminary data are accessible on the HBDA website.