Characterization of the orientation dependence of magnetization transfer measures in single and crossing-fiber white matter

Abstract

Purpose: To fully characterize the orientation dependence of magnetization transfer (MT) and inhomogeneous MT (ihMT) measures in the whole white matter (WM), for both single-fiber and crossing-fiber voxels.

Methods: A characterization method was developed using the fiber orientation obtained from diffusion MRI (dMRI) with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and constrained spherical deconvolution. This allowed for characterization of the orientation dependence of measures in all of WM, regardless of the number of fiber orientation in a voxel. Furthermore, the orientation dependence inside 31 different WM bundles was characterized to evaluate the homogeneity of the effect. Variation of the results within and between-subject was assessed from a 12-subject dataset.

Results: Previous results for single-fiber voxels were reproduced and a novel characterization was produced in voxels of crossing fibers, which seems to follow trends consistent with single-fiber results. Heterogeneity of the orientation dependence across bundles was observed, but homogeneity within similar bundles was also highlighted. Differences in behavior between MT and ihMT measures, as well as the ratio and saturation versions of these, were noted.

Conclusion: Orientation dependence characterization was proven possible over the entirety of WM. The vast range of effects and subtleties of the orientation dependence on MT measures showed the need for, but also the challenges of, a correction method.

Keywords: diffusion MRI; magnetization transfer; orientation dependence; white matter.