Tractography based on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) has become a popular tool for studying microstructural changes resulting from brain diseases. Quantitative anisotropy (QA) is used in deterministic fiber tracking as a measure of connection between brain regions. It remains unclear, if microstructural changes caused by lesioning the median forebrain bundle (MFB) to create a Parkinsonian rat model can be resolved using tractography based on ex-vivo diffusion MRI.
This study aims to fill this gap and enable future mechanistic research on structural changes of the whole brain network rodent models of PD. Specifically, it evaluates the ability of correlational tractography to detect structural changes in the MFB of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats.
The findings reveal that correlational tractography can detect structural changes in lesioned MFB and differentiate between the 6-OHDA and control groups.
Read the full article at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10123839