Sean CL Deoni1, Evelyne Mercure2,3,
Anna Blasi2,3, David Gasston2, Mark Johnson3,
Steven CR Williams2, Declan G. Murphy4
1Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences,
Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom; 2Centre for
Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, United
Kingdom; 3Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck
University, London, England, United Kingdom; 4Department of
Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, England, United Kingdom
T1
and T2 are commonly cited as reflecting myelin content and used as surrogate
markers. However, the relationships between myelin content changes and
changes in these relaxation parameters have not yet been established. In this study, we investigated the
relationship between brain T1, T2 and myelin water fraction (MWF) during the
developmental period from 3 through 8 months of age in healthy infants. We demonstrate that while T1 is generally
correlated with MWF, T2 is a poor predictor of myelin content. Results of this study suggest care should
be taken in using relaxation parameters to infer alterations in myelin
content.
Keywords