Renormalization Group Method: Effects of Diffusion Retarding on Intracellular Membranes

Oleg Posnansky*¹, Yuliya Kupriyanova¹, N. Jon Shah^1,2

Proton self-diffusion demonstrates superb sensitivity to the biological properties of living tissue. A complex interplay between different compartments and structures poses different amounts of hindrance to diffusing spins. The presence of restricting cellular structures, and variation in the integrity of the underlying neural tissue lead to non-Gaussian dynamics of the signal. Retarding effects on axon membranes were included in renormalization-group method. Microparameters of diffusivity in neurons were investigated. It is shown that the presence of axon membranes leads to non-Gaussian diffusion. A physical model determining intracellular properties from diffusion-weighted imaging is described.