
The variability of MR axon radii estimates in the human white matter
Author(s) -
Veraart Jelle,
Raven Erika P.,
Edwards Luke J.,
Weiskopf Nikolaus,
Jones Derek K.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.25359
Subject(s) - white matter , axon , neuroimaging , neuroscience , diffusion mri , reproducibility , repeatability , magnetic resonance imaging , radius , nuclear magnetic resonance , biomedical engineering , psychology , computer science , physics , medicine , chemistry , radiology , computer security , chromatography
The noninvasive quantification of axonal morphology is an exciting avenue for gaining understanding of the function and structure of the central nervous system. Accurate non‐invasive mapping of micron‐sized axon radii using commonly applied neuroimaging techniques, that is, diffusion‐weighted MRI, has been bolstered by recent hardware developments, specifically MR gradient design. Here the whole brain characterization of the effective MR axon radius is presented and the inter‐ and intra‐scanner test–retest repeatability and reproducibility are evaluated to promote the further development of the effective MR axon radius as a neuroimaging biomarker. A coefficient‐of‐variability of approximately 10% in the voxelwise estimation of the effective MR radius is observed in the test–retest analysis, but it is shown that the performance can be improved fourfold using a customized along‐tract analysis.