The overall aims of this project are to develop and implement novel methods for quantitative, in vivo characterization of tissue by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The microscopic compartition of water in tissues reflects potentially important structural properties that may be probed by diverse MRI measurements. In particular, water diffusion and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation cannot be described by single components in many tissues. With some limited success, multiple component characterization of these attributes has been proposed and studied in an attempt to extract specific information about the micro-anatomical water compartments from which they are derived. The further development of efficient and effective methods for acquiring and analyzing subvoxel characteristics promises to be useful for assessing structure and pathophysiology in various tissues, particularly nerve and muscle. The studies proposed herein will provide faster, more accurate, and more informative techniques for compartmental studies using MRI. Experimental studies on model tissues will establish comprehensive and quantitative in vivo descriptions of water diffusion, longitudinal relaxation and transverse relaxation, and how they correlate to each other and the physical compartments from which they are derived. These observations will then be used to design novel MRI methods, which are more specific for depicting tissue microstructure in vivo. One example, amongst others, is the aim to develop rapid and easily implemented MRI methods of visualizing and quantifying myelin content in the brain based on detailed compartmental models of relaxation and diffusion in white matter.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EB001744-02
Application #
6803479
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SSS-7 (02))
Program Officer
Mclaughlin, Alan Charles
Project Start
2003-09-30
Project End
2007-07-31
Budget Start
2004-08-01
Budget End
2005-07-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$302,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Department
Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
004413456
City
Nashville
State
TN
Country
United States
Zip Code
37212
Lankford, Christopher L; Does, Mark D (2018) Propagation of error from parameter constraints in quantitative MRI: Example application of multiple spin echo T2 mapping. Magn Reson Med 79:673-682
West, Kathryn L; Kelm, Nathaniel D; Carson, Robert P et al. (2018) Myelin volume fraction imaging with MRI. Neuroimage 182:511-521
West, Kathryn L; Kelm, Nathaniel D; Carson, Robert P et al. (2018) Experimental studies of g-ratio MRI in ex vivo mouse brain. Neuroimage 167:366-371
Harkins, K D; Does, M D (2016) Simulations on the influence of myelin water in diffusion-weighted imaging. Phys Med Biol 61:4729-45
Kelm, Nathaniel D; West, Kathryn L; Carson, Robert P et al. (2016) Evaluation of diffusion kurtosis imaging in ex vivo hypomyelinated mouse brains. Neuroimage 124:612-626
West, Kathryn L; Kelm, Nathaniel D; Carson, Robert P et al. (2016) A revised model for estimating g-ratio from MRI. Neuroimage 125:1155-1158
Xu, Junzhong; Li, Hua; Li, Ke et al. (2016) Fast and simplified mapping of mean axon diameter using temporal diffusion spectroscopy. NMR Biomed 29:400-10
Harkins, Kevin D; Xu, Junzhong; Dula, Adrienne N et al. (2016) The microstructural correlates of T1 in white matter. Magn Reson Med 75:1341-5
Boyer, Richard B; Kelm, Nathaniel D; Riley, D Colton et al. (2015) 4.7-T diffusion tensor imaging of acute traumatic peripheral nerve injury. Neurosurg Focus 39:E9
West, Kathryn L; Kelm, Nathaniel D; Carson, Robert P et al. (2015) Quantitative analysis of mouse corpus callosum from electron microscopy images. Data Brief 5:124-8

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