TY - JOUR
T1 - Feasibility of creating a high-resolution 3D diffusion tensor imaging based atlas of the human brainstem
T2 - A case study at 11.7T
AU - Aggarwal, Manisha
AU - Zhang, Jiangyang
AU - Pletnikova, Olga
AU - Crain, Barbara
AU - Troncoso, Juan
AU - Mori, Susumu
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants R01AG020012 , R01EB003543 and P41EB015909 .
PY - 2013/7/1
Y1 - 2013/7/1
N2 - A three-dimensional stereotaxic atlas of the human brainstem based on high resolution ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is introduced. The atlas consists of high resolution (125-255 μm isotropic) three-dimensional DT images of the formalin-fixed brainstem acquired at 11.7. T. The DTI data revealed microscopic neuroanatomical details, allowing three-dimensional visualization and reconstruction of fiber pathways including the decussation of the pyramidal tract fibers, and interdigitating fascicles of the corticospinal and transverse pontine fibers. Additionally, strong gray-white matter contrasts in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps enabled precise delineation of gray matter nuclei in the brainstem, including the cranial nerve and the inferior olivary nuclei. Comparison with myelin-stained histology shows that at the level of resolution achieved in this study, the structural details resolved with DTI contrasts in the brainstem were comparable to anatomical delineation obtained with histological sectioning. Major neural structures delineated from DTI contrasts in the brainstem are segmented and three-dimensionally reconstructed. Further, the ex vivo DTI data are nonlinearly mapped to a widely-used in vivo human brain atlas, to construct a high-resolution atlas of the brainstem in the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) stereotaxic coordinate space. The results demonstrate the feasibility of developing a 3D DTI based atlas for detailed characterization of brainstem neuroanatomy with high resolution and contrasts, which will be a useful resource for research and clinical applications.
AB - A three-dimensional stereotaxic atlas of the human brainstem based on high resolution ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is introduced. The atlas consists of high resolution (125-255 μm isotropic) three-dimensional DT images of the formalin-fixed brainstem acquired at 11.7. T. The DTI data revealed microscopic neuroanatomical details, allowing three-dimensional visualization and reconstruction of fiber pathways including the decussation of the pyramidal tract fibers, and interdigitating fascicles of the corticospinal and transverse pontine fibers. Additionally, strong gray-white matter contrasts in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps enabled precise delineation of gray matter nuclei in the brainstem, including the cranial nerve and the inferior olivary nuclei. Comparison with myelin-stained histology shows that at the level of resolution achieved in this study, the structural details resolved with DTI contrasts in the brainstem were comparable to anatomical delineation obtained with histological sectioning. Major neural structures delineated from DTI contrasts in the brainstem are segmented and three-dimensionally reconstructed. Further, the ex vivo DTI data are nonlinearly mapped to a widely-used in vivo human brain atlas, to construct a high-resolution atlas of the brainstem in the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) stereotaxic coordinate space. The results demonstrate the feasibility of developing a 3D DTI based atlas for detailed characterization of brainstem neuroanatomy with high resolution and contrasts, which will be a useful resource for research and clinical applications.
KW - Atlas
KW - Diffusion tensor imaging
KW - Human brainstem
KW - Stereotaxic
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.061
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.01.061
M3 - Article
C2 - 23384518
AN - SCOPUS:84874983304
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 74
SP - 117
EP - 127
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
ER -