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Jelescu IO, Palombo M, Bagnato F, Schilling KG. Challenges for biophysical modeling of microstructure. J Neurosci Methods 2020; 344:108861. [PMID: 32692999 PMCID: PMC10163379 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2020] [Revised: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The biophysical modeling efforts in diffusion MRI have grown considerably over the past 25 years. In this review, we dwell on the various challenges along the journey of bringing a biophysical model from initial design to clinical implementation, identifying both hurdles that have been already overcome and outstanding issues. First, we describe the critical initial task of selecting which features of tissue microstructure can be estimated using a model and which acquisition protocol needs to be implemented to make the estimation possible. The model performance should necessarily be tested in realistic numerical simulations and in experimental data - adapting the fitting strategy accordingly, and parameter estimates should be validated against complementary techniques, when/if available. Secondly, the model performance and validity should be explored in pathological conditions, and, if appropriate, dedicated models for pathology should be developed. We build on examples from tumors, ischemia and demyelinating diseases. We then discuss the challenges associated with clinical translation and added value. Finally, we single out four major unresolved challenges that are related to: the availability of a microstructural ground truth, the validation of model parameters which cannot be accessed with complementary techniques, the development of a generalized standard model for any brain region and pathology, and the seamless communication between different parties involved in the development and application of biophysical models of diffusion.
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Jones DK, Alexander DC, Bowtell R, Cercignani M, Dell'Acqua F, McHugh DJ, Miller KL, Palombo M, Parker GJM, Rudrapatna US, Tax CMW. Microstructural imaging of the human brain with a 'super-scanner': 10 key advantages of ultra-strong gradients for diffusion MRI. Neuroimage 2018; 182:8-38. [PMID: 29793061 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2017] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The key component of a microstructural diffusion MRI 'super-scanner' is a dedicated high-strength gradient system that enables stronger diffusion weightings per unit time compared to conventional gradient designs. This can, in turn, drastically shorten the time needed for diffusion encoding, increase the signal-to-noise ratio, and facilitate measurements at shorter diffusion times. This review, written from the perspective of the UK National Facility for In Vivo MR Imaging of Human Tissue Microstructure, an initiative to establish a shared 300 mT/m-gradient facility amongst the microstructural imaging community, describes ten advantages of ultra-strong gradients for microstructural imaging. Specifically, we will discuss how the increase of the accessible measurement space compared to a lower-gradient systems (in terms of Δ, b-value, and TE) can accelerate developments in the areas of 1) axon diameter distribution mapping; 2) microstructural parameter estimation; 3) mapping micro-vs macroscopic anisotropy features with gradient waveforms beyond a single pair of pulsed-gradients; 4) multi-contrast experiments, e.g. diffusion-relaxometry; 5) tractography and high-resolution imaging in vivo and 6) post mortem; 7) diffusion-weighted spectroscopy of metabolites other than water; 8) tumour characterisation; 9) functional diffusion MRI; and 10) quality enhancement of images acquired on lower-gradient systems. We finally discuss practical barriers in the use of ultra-strong gradients, and provide an outlook on the next generation of 'super-scanners'.
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Affiliation(s)
- D K Jones
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK; School of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia.
| | - D C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), Department of Computer Science, UCL (University College London), Gower Street, London, UK; Clinical Imaging Research Centre, National University of Singapore, Singapore
| | - R Bowtell
- Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK
| | - M Cercignani
- Department of Psychiatry, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK
| | - F Dell'Acqua
- Natbrainlab, Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, London, UK
| | - D J McHugh
- Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre in Cambridge and Manchester, Cambridge and Manchester, UK
| | - K L Miller
- Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - M Palombo
- Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), Department of Computer Science, UCL (University College London), Gower Street, London, UK
| | - G J M Parker
- Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; CRUK and EPSRC Cancer Imaging Centre in Cambridge and Manchester, Cambridge and Manchester, UK; Bioxydyn Ltd., Manchester, UK
| | - U S Rudrapatna
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - C M W Tax
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
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Novikov DS, Reisert M, Kiselev VG. Effects of mesoscopic susceptibility and transverse relaxation on diffusion NMR. JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE (SAN DIEGO, CALIF. : 1997) 2018; 293:134-144. [PMID: 30012279 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2018.06.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 06/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Measuring molecular diffusion is based on the spatial encoding of spin-carrying molecules using external Larmor frequency gradients. Intrinsic variations of the Larmor frequency and of the local relaxation rate, commonly present in structurally complex samples, interfere with the external gradients, confounding the NMR-measured diffusion propagator. Here we consider, analytically and numerically, the effects of the mesoscopic magnetic structure (local susceptibility and transverse relaxation rate) on the NMR-measured "apparent" diffusion coefficient (ADC). We show that in the fast diffusion regime, when molecules spread past the correlation length of the magnetic structure, the deviation of ADC from the genuine diffusion coefficient increases as a power law of diffusion time. The effect of mesoscopically varying transverse relaxation rate is sequence-independent and always leads to the decrease of ADC with time, whereas the effect sign for the mesoscopic Larmor frequency variations depends on the presence of refocussing pulses in the diffusion sequence. We connect this unexpectedly diverging with time ADC discrepancy to the spatial statistics of the mesocopic magnetic structure. Our results establish a novel kind of NMR contrast tied to the microstructural complexity, and can be applied to discern the mesoscopic effects of hindrances to molecular diffusion, susceptibility variations, and varying local relaxation rate, on the measured diffusion propagator. In particular, we numerically show that the susceptibility effect of a microvascular network is sufficient to explain the observed ADC decrease due to superparamagnetic iron-oxide contrast injection in monkeys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitry S Novikov
- Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Marco Reisert
- Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
| | - Valerij G Kiselev
- Medical Physics, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
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Ligneul C, Palombo M, Valette J. Metabolite diffusion up to very high b in the mouse brain in vivo: Revisiting the potential correlation between relaxation and diffusion properties. Magn Reson Med 2016; 77:1390-1398. [PMID: 27018415 PMCID: PMC5008464 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2015] [Revised: 01/26/2016] [Accepted: 02/23/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To assess the potential correlation between metabolites diffusion and relaxation in the mouse brain, which is of importance for interpreting and modeling metabolite diffusion based on pure geometry, irrespective of relaxation properties (multicompartmental relaxation or surface relaxivity). METHODS A new diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance spectroscopy sequence is introduced, dubbed "STE-LASER," which presents several nice properties, in particular the absence of cross-terms with selection gradients and a very clean localization. Metabolite diffusion is then measured in a large voxel in the mouse brain at 11.7 Tesla using a cryoprobe, resulting in excellent signal-to-noise ratio, up to very high b-values under different echo time, mixing time, and diffusion time combinations. RESULTS Our results suggest that the correlation between relaxation and diffusion properties is extremely small or even nonexistent for metabolites in the mouse brain. CONCLUSION The present work strongly supports the interpretation and modeling of metabolite diffusion primarily based on geometry, irrespective of relaxation properties, at least under current experimental conditions. Magn Reson Med 77:1390-1398, 2017. © 2016 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clémence Ligneul
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Direction des Sciences du Vivant (DSV), Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), MIRCen, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, UMR 9199, Neurodegenerative Diseases Laboratory, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
| | - Marco Palombo
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Direction des Sciences du Vivant (DSV), Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), MIRCen, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, UMR 9199, Neurodegenerative Diseases Laboratory, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
| | - Julien Valette
- Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA), Direction des Sciences du Vivant (DSV), Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale (I2BM), MIRCen, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.,Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, UMR 9199, Neurodegenerative Diseases Laboratory, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France
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Fujiwara S, Uhrig L, Amadon A, Jarraya B, Le Bihan D. Quantification of iron in the non-human primate brain with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroimage 2014; 102 Pt 2:789-97. [PMID: 25192653 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2014] [Revised: 08/23/2014] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Pathological iron deposits in the brain, especially within basal ganglia, are linked to severe neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease. As iron induces local changes in magnetic susceptibility, its presence can be visualized with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The usual approach, based on iron induced changes in magnetic relaxation (T2/T2'), is often prone, however, to confounding artifacts and lacks specificity. Here, we propose a new method to quantify and map iron deposits using water diffusion MRI. This method is based on the differential sensitivity of two image acquisition schemes to the local magnetic field gradients induced by iron deposits and their cross-term with gradient pulses used for diffusion encoding. Iron concentration could be imaged and estimated with high accuracy in the brain cortex, the thalamus, the substantia nigra and the globus pallidus of macaques, showing iron distributions in agreement with literature. Additionally, iron maps could clearly show a dramatic increase in iron content upon injection of an UltraSmall Particle Iron Oxide (USPIO) contrast agent, notably in the cortex and the thalamus, reflecting regional differences in blood volume. The method will benefit clinical investigations on the effect of iron deposits in the brain or other organs, as iron deposits are increasingly seen as a biomarker for a wide range of diseases, notably, neurodegenerative diseases in the pre-symptomatic stage. It also has the potential for quantifying variations in blood volume induced by brain activation in fMRI studies using USPIOs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shunro Fujiwara
- Neurospin, Bâtiment 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Department of Neurosurgery, Iwate Medical University, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka, 0208505 Iwate, Japan
| | - Lynn Uhrig
- Neurospin, Bâtiment 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Equipe Avenir INSERM Bettencourt Schueller, Institut Fédératif de Recherche n°49, NeuroSpin, Bât. 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Alexis Amadon
- Neurospin, Bâtiment 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Béchir Jarraya
- Neurospin, Bâtiment 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Equipe Avenir INSERM Bettencourt Schueller, Institut Fédératif de Recherche n°49, NeuroSpin, Bât. 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Department of Neurosurgery, Neuromodulation unit, Foch Hospital, University of Versailles-Saint Quentin, 40 rue Worth, 92150 Suresnes, France
| | - Denis Le Bihan
- Neurospin, Bâtiment 145, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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Branzoli F, Ercan E, Webb A, Ronen I. The interaction between apparent diffusion coefficients and transverse relaxation rates of human brain metabolites and water studied by diffusion-weighted spectroscopy at 7 T. NMR IN BIOMEDICINE 2014; 27:495-506. [PMID: 24706330 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.3085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2013] [Revised: 01/07/2014] [Accepted: 01/08/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
The dependence of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of molecules in biological tissues on an acquisition-specific timescale is a powerful mechanism for studying tissue microstructure. Unlike water, metabolites are confined mainly to intracellular compartments, thus providing higher specificity to tissue microstructure. Compartment-specific structural and chemical properties may also affect molecule transverse relaxation times (T₂). Here, we investigated the correlation between diffusion and relaxation for N-acetylaspartate, creatine and choline compounds in human brain white matter in vivo at 7 T, and compared them with those of water under the same experimental conditions. Data were acquired in a volume of interest in parietal white matter at two different diffusion times, Δ = 44 and 246 ms, using a matrix of three echo times (T(E)) and five diffusion weighting values (up to 4575 s/mm²). Significant differences in the dependence of the ADCs on T(E) were found between water and metabolites, as well as among the different metabolites. A significant decrease in water ADC as a function of TE was observed only at the longest diffusion time (p < 0.001), supporting the hypothesis that at least part of the restricted water pool can be associated with longer T₂, as suggested by previous studies in vitro. Metabolite data showed an increase of creatine (p < 0.05) and N-acetylaspartate (p < 0.05) ADCs with TE at Δ = 44 ms, and a decrease of creatine (p < 0.05) and N-acetylaspartate (p = 0.1) ADCs with TE at Δ = 246 ms. No dependence of choline ADC on TE was observed. The metabolite results suggest that diffusion and relaxation properties are dictated not only by metabolite distribution in different cell types, but also by other mechanisms, such as interactions with membranes, exchange between "free" and "bound" states or interactions with microsusceptibility gradients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Branzoli
- C. J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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Pyatigorskaya N, Le Bihan D, Reynaud O, Ciobanu L. Relationship between the diffusion time and the diffusion MRI signal observed at 17.2 tesla in the healthy rat brain cortex. Magn Reson Med 2013; 72:492-500. [DOI: 10.1002/mrm.24921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2012] [Revised: 06/27/2013] [Accepted: 07/21/2013] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nadya Pyatigorskaya
- NeuroSpin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives; Gif-sur-Yvette France
| | - Denis Le Bihan
- NeuroSpin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives; Gif-sur-Yvette France
| | - Olivier Reynaud
- NeuroSpin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives; Gif-sur-Yvette France
| | - Luisa Ciobanu
- NeuroSpin, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives; Gif-sur-Yvette France
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Aso T, Urayama SI, Fukuyama H, Le Bihan D. Comparison of diffusion-weighted fMRI and BOLD fMRI responses in a verbal working memory task. Neuroimage 2013; 67:25-32. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2012] [Revised: 10/04/2012] [Accepted: 11/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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