Sina Aslan1,2, Hao
Huang1,2, Jinsoo Uh1, Virendra Mishra1,2,
Guanghua Xiao3, Matthias van Osch4, Hanzhang Lu1,2
1Advanced
Imaging Research Center, University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center,
Dallas, TX, USA; 2Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program,
University of Texas at Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; 3Division
of Biostatistics, Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Texas at
Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; 4Department of
Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
Some evidence has suggested that gray matter functional connectivity is supported by structural connections via white matter fiber tracts. We therefore further hypothesized that functional measures of the white matter, e.g. perfusion, may have a more direct link to gray matter connectivity. Here we used ASL and DTI to measure fiber tract-specific CBF and compared it to fcMRI connectivity in the terminal gray matter. Across fiber tracts, CBF showed a paradoxically inverse correlation with FA. An inverse correlation was also observed between tract-specific CBF and the functional connectivity in the gray matters connected by the tract.