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Abstract #1039

Diffusion MRI Derived Immunohistochemistry Equivalent "Stains" of White Matter Pathology

Tsang-Wei Tu1, Yong Wang2, Chia-Wen Chiang3, Ying-Jr Chen4, Tsen-Hsuen Lin5, Anne H. Cross6, Sheng-Kwei Song2

1Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States; 2Department of Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 3Department of Chemistry, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States; 4Department of Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 5Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, United States; 6Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States


In the classical diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) paper, Basser and Pierpaoli proposed the use DTI derived parameters to generate physiological and pathological stains. Early studies applying DTI on various animal models indeed suggested that DTI derived directional diffusivity correctly reflect white matter (WM) pathologies in vivo. However, there has not been an established MRI derived immunohistochemistry (IHC) equivalent stains since the publication of the paper. In the present study, we demonstrate that the recently developed novel diffusion basis spectrum imaging (DBSI) is capable of generating diffusion metrics to derive the long-sought diffusion MRI equivalent of IHC stains for WM pathology. Our results applying DBSI to the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice followed by IHC suggest that DBSI derived IHC equivalent stains are good markers of WM integrity.