Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Measuring Connectivity in the Primary Visual Pathway in Human Albinism Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Tractography
Published on: August 11, 2016
Heritability of White Matter Fiber Tract Shapes: A HARDI Study of 198 Twins
Yan Jin1, Yonggang Shi2, Shantanu H Joshi3
1Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Abstract:
Genetic analysis of diffusion tensor images (DTI) shows great promise in revealing specific genetic variants that affect brain integrity and connectivity. Most genetic studies of DTI analyze voxel-based diffusivity indices in the image space (such as 3D maps of fractional anisotropy) and overlook tract geometry. Here we propose an automated workflow to cluster fibers using a white matter probabilistic atlas and perform genetic analysis on the shape characteristics of fiber tracts. We apply our approach to large study of 4-Tesla high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) data from 198 healthy, young adult twins (age: 20-30). Illustrative results show heritability for the shapes of several major tracts, as color-coded maps.

