We demonstrate that in vivo diffusion MRI becomes sensitive to intra-axonal properties such as the inner axon diameters, when diffusion weightings in the range $$$b\sim7,000-25000\,\mathrm{s/mm^2}$$$ are achieved on the Human Connectom scanner (using gradients of 300mT/m). By analyzing the diffusion-weighted signal in the human white matter as a function of $$$b$$$, we observe significant deviations from the $$$b^{-1/2}$$$ scaling associated with the conventional “stick” model of infinitely-narrow axons. Our estimated effective MR diameters, heavily weighted by the tail of the axon diameter distribution, agree well with those calculated from histology histograms available from literature.
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