title: High-field magnetic resonance imaging of the human temporal lobe.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emerging high-field diffusion weighted MR imaging protocols, along with tractography, can elucidate microstructural changes associated with brain disease at the sub-millimeter image resolution. Epilepsy and other neurological disorders are accompanied by structural changes in the hippocampal formation and associated regions; however, these changes can be subtle and on a much smaller scale than the spatial resolution commonly obtained by current clinical magnetic resonance (MR) protocols in vivo.
  
  
  METHODS
  We explored the possibility of studying the organization of fresh tissue with a 17.6 Tesla magnet using diffusion MR imaging and tractography. The mesoscale organization of the temporal lobe was estimated using a fresh unfixed specimen obtained from a subject who underwent anterior temporal lobectomy for medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Following ex vivo imaging, the tissue was fixed, serial-sectioned, and stained for correlation with imaging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We resolved tissue microstructural organizational features in the temporal lobe from diffusion MR imaging and tractography in fresh tissue.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fresh ex vivo MR imaging, along with tractography, revealed complex intra-temporal structural variation corresponding to neuronal cell body layers, dendritic fields, and axonal projection systems evident histologically. This is the first study to describe in detail the human temporal lobe structural organization using high-field MR imaging and tractography. By preserving the 3-dimensional structures of the hippocampus and surrounding structures, specific changes in anatomy may inform us about the changes that occur in TLE in relation to the disease process and structural underpinnings in epilepsy-related memory dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ; Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Colon-Perez
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ; Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mansi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parekh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Angelique
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boutzoukas
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carmona
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Couret
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Rosemary
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Klassen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Mareci
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ; Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ; Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA ; J. Crayton Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Carney
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: DWI; Ex vivo brain imaging; High-field MRI; Mesoscale structure; Tractography