Open AccessIn Vivo 7T MRI of the Non-Human Primate Brainstem
Author(s) -
Laura M. Zitella,
Yi Zi Xiao,
Benjamin A. Teplitzky,
Daniel Kastl,
Yuval Duchin,
Kenneth B. Baker,
Jerrold L. Vitek,
Gregor Adriany,
Essa Yacoub,
Noam Harel,
Matthew D. Johnson
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0127049
Subject(s) - medial lemniscus , brainstem , tractography , diffusion mri , deep brain stimulation , neuroscience , magnetic resonance imaging , white matter , neuroimaging , medicine , parkinsonism , anatomy , radiology , biology , thalamus , pathology , parkinson's disease , disease
Structural brain imaging provides a critical framework for performing stereotactic and intraoperative MRI-guided surgical procedures, with procedural efficacy often dependent upon visualization of the target with which to operate. Here, we describe tools for in vivo , subject-specific visualization and demarcation of regions within the brainstem. High-field 7T susceptibility-weighted imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging of the brain were collected using a customized head coil from eight rhesus macaques. Fiber tracts including the superior cerebellar peduncle, medial lemniscus, and lateral lemniscus were identified using high-resolution probabilistic diffusion tractography, which resulted in three-dimensional fiber tract reconstructions that were comparable to those extracted from sequential application of a two-dimensional nonlinear brain atlas warping algorithm. In the susceptibility-weighted imaging, white matter tracts within the brainstem were also identified as hypointense regions, and the degree of hypointensity was age-dependent. This combination of imaging modalities also enabled identifying the location and extent of several brainstem nuclei, including the periaqueductal gray, pedunculopontine nucleus, and inferior colliculus. These clinically-relevant high-field imaging approaches have potential to enable more accurate and comprehensive subject-specific visualization of the brainstem and to ultimately improve patient-specific neurosurgical targeting procedures, including deep brain stimulation lead implantation.