Chunlei Liu1,2, Wei
Li1, G. Allan Johnson2, Bing Wu1
1Brain Imaging
and Analysis Center, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; 2Radiology,
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Myelin sheath wrapping around nerve axons is essential for proper functioning of the central nervous system. Abnormal myelination leads to a wide range of neurological diseases and developmental disorders. We demonstrated that loss of myelin in the shiverer mouse results in a dramatic reduction resulted in a near extinction of susceptibility contrast between gray and white matter. Our data provides new evidences indicating that myelin is the predominant source of susceptibility differences between deep gray and white matter observed in MRI. More importantly, our data suggest that quantitative magnetic susceptibility is a potential endogenous biomarker for myelination.