Temporal scaling characteristics of diffusion as a new MRI contrast: findings in rat hippocampus

Features of the diffusion-time dependence of the diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal provide a new contrast that could be altered by numerous biological processes and pathologies in tissue at microscopic length scales. An anomalous diffusion model, based on the theory of Brownian motion in fractal and disordered media, is used to characterize the temporal scaling (TS) characteristics of diffusion-related quantities, such as moments of the displacement and zero-displacement probabilities, in excised rat hippocampus specimens. To reduce the effect of noise in magnitude-valued MRI data, a novel numerical procedure was employed to yield accurate estimation of these quantities even when the signal falls below the noise floor. The power-law dependencies characterize the TS behavior in all regions of the rat hippocampus, providing unique information about its microscopic architecture. The relationship between the TS characteristics and diffusion anisotropy is investigated by examining the anisotropy of TS, and conversely, the TS of anisotropy. The findings suggest the robustness of the technique as well as the reproducibility of estimates. TS characteristics of the diffusion-weighted signals could be used as a new and useful marker of tissue microstructure.