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Visualization of neural tissue water compartments using biexponential diffusion tensor MRI
B A Inglis1, E L Bossart, D L Buckley
1Department of Neuroscience, Center for Structural Biology, University of Florida Brain Institute, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. binglis@socrates.berkeley.edu
Abstract:
The apparent diffusion tensor (ADT) imaging method was extended to account for multiple diffusion components. A biexponential ADT imaging experiment was used to obtain separate images of rapidly and slowly diffusing water fractions in excised rat spinal cord. The fast and slow component tensors were compared and found to exhibit similar gross features, such as fractional anisotropy, in both white and gray matter. However, there were also some important differences, which are consistent with the different structures occupying intracellular and extracellular spaces. Evidence supporting the assignment of the two tensor components to extracellular and intracellular water fractions is provided by an NMR spectroscopic investigation of homogeneous samples of brain tissue. Magn Reson Med 45:580-587, 2001.