3D histological reconstruction of fiber tracts and direct comparison with diffusion tensor MRI tractography.
A classical neural tract tracer, WGA-HRP, was injected at multiple sites within the brain of a macaque monkey. Histological sections of the labeled fiber tracts were reconstructed in 3D, and the fibers were segmented and registered with the anatomical post-mortem MRI from the same animal. Fiber tracing along the same pathways was performed on the DTI data using a classical diffusion tracing technique. The fibers derived from the DTI were compared with those segmented from the histology in order to evaluate the performance of DTI fiber tracing. While there was generally good agreement between the two methods, our results reveal certain limitations of DTI tractography, particularly at regions of fiber tract crossing or bifurcation.
Dauguet
Julien
J
Computational Radiology Laboratory, Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Peled
Sharon
S
Berezovskii
Vladimir
V
Delzescaux
Thierry
T
Warfield
Simon K
SK
Born
Richard
R
Westin
Carl-Fredrik
CF
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008251:Macaca; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity