Detailed T1-weighted profiles from the human cortex measured in vivo at 3 Tesla MRI

Ferguson, B., Petridou, N., Fracasso, A. , van Den Heuvel, M.P., Brouwer, R.M., Hulshoff Pol, H.E., Kahn, R.S. and Mandl, R.C.W. (2018) Detailed T1-weighted profiles from the human cortex measured in vivo at 3 Tesla MRI. Neuroinformatics, 16(2), pp. 181-196. (doi: 10.1007/s12021-018-9356-2) (PMID:29352389) (PMCID:PMC5984962)

Abstract

Studies into cortical thickness in psychiatric diseases based on T1-weighted MRI frequently report on aberrations in the cerebral cortex. Due to limitations in image resolution for studies conducted at conventional MRI field strengths (e.g. 3 Tesla (T)) this information cannot be used to establish which of the cortical layers may be implicated. Here we propose a new analysis method that computes one high-resolution average cortical profile per brain region extracting myeloarchitectural information from T1-weighted MRI scans that are routinely acquired at a conventional field strength. To assess this new method, we acquired standard T1-weighted scans at 3 T and compared them with state-of-the-art ultra-high resolution T1-weighted scans optimised for intracortical myelin contrast acquired at 7 T. Average cortical profiles were computed for seven different brain regions. Besides a qualitative comparison between the 3 T scans, 7 T scans, and results from literature, we tested if the results from dynamic time warping-based clustering are similar for the cortical profiles computed from 7 T and 3 T data. In addition, we quantitatively compared cortical profiles computed for V1, V2 and V7 for both 7 T and 3 T data using a priori information on their relative myelin concentration. Although qualitative comparisons show that at an individual level average profiles computed for 7 T have more pronounced features than 3 T profiles the results from the quantitative analyses suggest that average cortical profiles computed from T1-weighted scans acquired at 3 T indeed contain myeloarchitectural information similar to profiles computed from the scans acquired at 7 T. The proposed method therefore provides a step forward to study cortical myeloarchitecture in vivo at conventional magnetic field strength both in health and disease.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fracasso, Dr Alessio
• Authors: Ferguson, B., Petridou, N., Fracasso, A., van Den Heuvel, M.P., Brouwer, R.M., Hulshoff Pol, H.E., Kahn, R.S., and Mandl, R.C.W.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Neuroinformatics
• Publisher: Humana Press
• ISSN: 1539-2791
• ISSN (Online): 1559-0089
• Published Online: 19 January 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Neuroinformatics 16(2): 181-196
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License