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Updated: Apr 11, 2026
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High-resolution Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Human Subcortex In Vivo and Postmortem
Published on: December 30, 2015
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A human subcortical connectome at 400 μm resolution.
Chiara Maffei1,2, Ting Gong1, Clemens Neudorfer3
1Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|April 10, 2026
Summary
This study reconstructs human subcortical fiber pathways using ultra-high-resolution diffusion MRI (dMRI). The findings enable non-invasive neuroimaging for future clinical applications and provide a detailed brain circuit atlas.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Medical Imaging
- Neuroanatomy
Background:
- Subcortical fiber pathways are crucial in clinical neuroscience for treating motor and psychiatric disorders.
- Non-invasive imaging of these pathways using diffusion MRI (dMRI) is challenging due to their complexity.
- Current atlasing efforts often rely on synthetic data, limiting clinical applicability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present the first extensive reconstruction of human subcortical fiber pathways using ultra-high-resolution dMRI.
- To demonstrate the feasibility of non-invasive neuroimaging of these pathways at the single-subject level.
- To provide a high-definition atlas of basal-ganglia-thalamocortical circuits.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an ex vivo dMRI dataset from the BRAIN CONNECTS center (LINC) acquired on the Connectome 2.0 scanner.
- Employed ultra-high-resolution dMRI for detailed fiber pathway reconstruction.
- Developed a high-definition atlas of basal-ganglia-thalamocortical circuits.
Main Results:
- Successfully reconstructed extensive fiber pathways of the human subcortex with unprecedented detail.
- Demonstrated the feasibility of reconstructing these pathways non-invasively at the single-subject level.
- Created a high-definition atlas of basal-ganglia-thalamocortical circuits, with publicly released data and annotations.
Conclusions:
- This work paves the way for in vivo reconstruction of subcortical pathways in individual patients.
- The provided atlas offers a valuable tool for guiding neuromodulation therapies like deep brain stimulation (DBS).
- The atlas's clinical validity is supported by alignment with DBS "hotspots" and identification of pathways linked to therapeutic effects or side effects.
