Abstract #0712

Ronen I, Hamilton J, Kim D

In this work, diffusion weighted spectra were collected from three radically different mammalian nerves: optic, vagus and sciatic nerves freshly obtained from rhesus monkeys. q-space analysis performed on these data shows that displacement RMS is unbounded and reaches beyond the average axonal diameter of all three nerves even at relatively short diffusion times. These results are then interpreted according to the well-characterized cytoarchitectonics of these nerves. One possible conclusion is that interplay between axonal diameter, axonal packing and transmembrane permeability plays a major role in defining water diffusion characteristics in neural tissue, both in myelinated and non-myelinated nerves.