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Abstract #0008

Quantitative Assessment of Microstructure Properties of Human Corpus Callosum and Distinct Connectivity to Projected Cortices using Parametric T1 Imaging and Diffusion Tractography

Byeong-Yeul Lee1, Xiao-Hong Zhu1, and Wei Chen1

1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States

Imaging of callosal microstructures is of importance to understand its functional and anatomical connectivity to the projected cortical areas across two hemispheres. In this work, we tested our hypothesis that the parametric T1 measure could be sensitive to the corpus callosum (CC) microstructure and the fiber size within CC, and it may reflect the underlying functionality. In comparison with histology reports, our T1 maps indicate high inhomogeneity in CC and a positive trend between the T1 value and CC fiber size. In addition, diffusion tractograpy analysis shows that regional differentiation of CC T1 value or fiber size is indicative of unique connection to the cortical areas with distinct brain function. We found that the large callosal fibers likely connect to sensory and visual cortices; in contrast, small callosal fibers connect higher functional brain regions. The overall results show the new utility of parametric T1 imaging for quantitatively assessment of the fiber microstructure of human corpus callosum and its connections to functionally relevant cortices. This imaging approach could provide a robust and useful tool for detection of fiber abnormality in the human white matter and dysfunction.

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