Observation of Anisotropy at Different Length Scales in Optic and Sciatic Nerve Speciments

Evren Ozarslan¹, N Shemesh², Y Cohen², Peter J. Basser

Double-PFG MR is a promising method to assess restriction induced anisotropy at different length scales enabling the extraction of information such as compartment size, shape, and orientation distribution function. In this work, we present the simultaneous characterization of the axon diameter and the dispersion in the orientation of the axons in excised optic and sciatic nerve specimens. Assuming a von Mises distribution for the orientation distribution function enabled the characterization of the dispersion of fiber orientations via the estimation of only one additional parameter.