title: Texture anisotropy of the brain's white matter as revealed by anatomical MRI.
abstract: The purpose of this work was to study specific texture properties of the brain's white matter (WM) based on conventional high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets. Quantitative parameters anisotropy and laminarity were derived from 3-D texture analysis. Differences in WM texture associated with gender were evaluated on an age-matched sample of 210 young healthy subjects (mean age 24.8, SD 3.97 years, 103 males and 107 females). Changes of WM texture with age were studied using 112 MRI-T1 datasets of healthy subjects aged 16 to 70 years (57 males and 55 females). Both texture measures indicated a "more regular" WM structure in females (p < 10(-6)). An age-related deterioration of WM structure manifests itself as a remarkable decline of both parameters (p < 10(-6)) that is more prominent in females (p < 10(-6)) than in males (p = 0.02). Texture analysis of anatomical MRI-T1 brain datasets provides quantitative information about macroscopic WM characteristics and helps discriminating between normal and pathological aging.
authors.affiliation: United Institute of Informatics Problems, Belarus National Academy of Sciences, 220012 Minsk, Belarus. vassili.kovalev@gmail.com
authors.forename: Vassili
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kovalev
authors.forename: Frithjof
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kruggel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000502:physiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors