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Noninvasive mapping of human trigeminal brainstem pathways
Author(s) -
Upadhyay Jaymin,
Knudsen Jamie,
Anderson Julie,
Becerra Lino,
Borsook David
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.21682
Subject(s) - brainstem , neuroscience , brain mapping , anatomy , medicine , biology
The human trigeminal system mediates facial pain and somatosensory processing. The anatomic location of neuronal substrates and axonal pathways of the trigeminal system have previously been characterized with conventional in vitro methods. The present investigation implemented diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography to first segment the peripheral trigeminal circuitry, trigeminal nerve branches (ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular nerves), ganglion, and nerve root. Subsequent segmentations involved the spinal trigeminal and trigeminal thalamic tracts, which respectively convey information to the spinal trigeminal nuclei and ventral thalamic regions. This latter procedure also identified 1) spinal thalamic (anterolateral [AL]) system pathways (propagating pain and temperature information from the body), 2) trigeminal lemniscus (TL; touch and face position), and 3) medial lemniscus (ML; touch and limb position). The anatomic location of the identified pain and somatosensory pathways compared well with previous functional findings in the human trigeminal system, as well as the tract position in human histological cross sections. Probabilistic tractography may be a useful method to further comprehend the functional and structural properties of trigeminal and other related systems. Application of DTI to map pain and somatosensory pathways in conjunction with a characterization of function properties of pain and somatosensory processing would further define the systematic changes that occur in trigeminal pathology. Magn Reson Med 60:1037–1046, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.