Neurite density from magnetic resonance diffusion measurements at ultrahigh field: Comparison with light microscopy and electron microscopy

Due to its unique sensitivity to tissue microstructure, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has found many applications in clinical and fundamental science. With few exceptions, a more precise correspondence between physiological or biophysical properties and the obtained diffusion p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2010-01, Vol.49 (1), p.205-216
Main Authors: Jespersen, Sune N., Bjarkam, Carsten R., Nyengaard, Jens R., Chakravarty, M. Mallar, Hansen, Brian, Vosegaard, Thomas, Østergaard, Leif, Yablonskiy, Dmitriy, Nielsen, Niels Chr, Vestergaard-Poulsen, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agreements
Algorithms
Animals
Brain - cytology
Brain research
Diffusion
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Electromagnetic Fields
Extracellular Space - physiology
Hippocampus - cytology
Histology
Male
Microscopy
Microscopy, Electron
Models, Statistical
Nerve Fibers - ultrastructure
Neurite density
Neurites - physiology
Parietal Lobe - cytology
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Stereology
Ultra high-field MRI
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Summary:Due to its unique sensitivity to tissue microstructure, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has found many applications in clinical and fundamental science. With few exceptions, a more precise correspondence between physiological or biophysical properties and the obtained diffusion parameters remain uncertain due to lack of specificity. In this work, we address this problem by comparing diffusion parameters of a recently introduced model for water diffusion in brain matter to light microscopy and quantitative electron microscopy. Specifically, we compare diffusion model predictions of neurite density in rats to optical myelin staining intensity and stereological estimation of neurite volume fraction using electron microscopy. We find that the diffusion model describes data better and that its parameters show stronger correlation with optical and electron microscopy, and thus reflect myelinated neurite density better than the more frequently used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and cumulant expansion methods. Furthermore, the estimated neurite orientations capture dendritic architecture more faithfully than DTI diffusion ellipsoids.
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.08.053