Cortex Parcellation Associated Whole White Matter Parcellation in Individual Subjects

• Published in: Frontiers in human neuroscience Vol. 11; p. 352
• Main Authors: Schiffler, Patrick, Tenberge, Jan-Gerd, Wiendl, Heinz, Meuth, Sven G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 06.07.2017; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; brain anatomy; Brain research; diffusion tensor imaging; diffusion weighted imaging; fiber tracking; Fibers; FreeSurfer; Neuroscience; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Registration; Software; Substantia alba; white matter parcellation; diffusion tensor imaging; diffusion weighted imaging; white matter parcellation; FreeSurfer; brain anatomy; fiber tracking
• ISSN: 1662-5161; 1662-5161
• DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00352

The investigation of specific white matter areas is a growing field in neurological research and is typically achieved through the use of atlases. However, the definition of anatomically based regions remains challenging for the white matter and thus hinders region-specific analysis in individual subjects. In this article, we focus on creating a whole white matter parcellation method for individual subjects where these areas can be associated to cortex regions. This is done by combining cortex parcellation and fiber tracking data. By tracking fibers out of each cortex region and labeling the fibers according to their origin, we populate a candidate image. We then derive the white matter parcellation by classifying each white matter voxel according to the distribution of labels in the corresponding voxel from the candidate image. The parcellation of the white matter with the presented method is highly reliable and is not as dependent on registration as with white matter atlases. This method allows for the parcellation of the whole white matter into individual cortex region associated areas and, therefore, associates white matter alterations to cortex regions. In addition, we compare the results from the presented method to existing atlases. The areas generated by the presented method are not as sharply defined as the areas in most existing atlases; however, they are computed directly in the DWI space of the subject and, therefore, do not suffer from distortion caused by registration. The presented approach might be a promising tool for clinical and basic research to investigate modalities or system specific micro structural alterations of white matter areas in a quantitative manner.