RegBoost: Enhancing mouse brain image registration using geometric priors and Laplacian interpolation.

Abstract

We show in this work that incorporating geometric features and geometry processing algorithms for mouse brain image registration broadens the applicability of registration algorithms and improves the registration accuracy of existing methods. We introduce the preprocessing and postprocessing steps in our proposed framework as RegBoost. We develop a method to align the axis of 3D image stacks by detecting the central planes that pass symmetrically through the image volumes. We then find geometric contours by defining external and internal structures to facilitate image correspondences. We establish Dirichlet boundary conditions at these correspondences and find the displacement map throughout the volume using Laplacian interpolation. We discuss the challenges in our standalone framework and demonstrate how our new approaches can improve the results of existing image registration methods. We expect our new approach and algorithms will have critical applications in brain mapping projects.