AxCaliber: A method for measuring axon diameter distribution from diffusion MRI

Yaniv Assaf*, Tamar Blumenfeld-Katzir, Yossi Yovel, Peter J. Basser

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

701 Scopus citations

Abstract

The diameter of a myelinated nerve axon is directly proportional to its conduction velocity, so the axon diameter distribution helps determine the channel capacity of nervous transmission along fascicles in the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous systems (PNS). Previously, this histological information could only be obtained using invasive tissue biopsies. Here we propose a new NMR-based approach that employs a model of water diffusion within "restricted" cylindrical axons to estimate their diameter distribution within a nerve bundle. This approach can be combined with MRI to furnish an estimate of the axon diameter distribution within each voxel. This method is validated by comparing the diameter distributions measured using the NMR and histological techniques on sciatic and optic nerve tissue specimens. The axon diameter distribution measured in each voxel of porcine spinal cord using MRI and using histological methods were similar. Applications are expected in longitudinal studies designed to follow nerve growth in normal and abnormal development, as well as in diagnosing disorders and diseases affecting specific populations of axons in the CNS and PNS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1347-1354
Number of pages8
JournalMagnetic Resonance in Medicine
Volume59
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2008

Funding

FundersFunder number
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentZ01HD000266

    Keywords

    • Axon diameter
    • Diffusion
    • MRI
    • Nerve
    • Q-space

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