RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 In vivo characterization of the connectivity and subcomponents of the human globus pallidus
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 017806
DO 10.1101/017806
A1 Patrick Beukema
A1 Fang-Cheng Yeh
A1 Timothy Verstynen
YR 2015
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/04/09/017806.abstract
AB Projections from the substantia nigra and striatum traverse through the pallidum on the way to their targets. To date, in vivo characterization of these pathways remains elusive. Here we used high angular resolution diffusion imaging (N=138) to study the characteristics and structural subcompartments of the human pallidum. Our results show that the diffusion orientation distribution at the pallidum is asymmetrically oriented in a dorsolateral direction, consistent with the orientation of underlying fiber systems. Furthermore, compared to the outer pallidal segment, the internal segment has more peaks in the orientation distribution function and stronger anisotropy in the primary fiber direction, consistent with known cellular differences between the underlying nuclei. These differences in orientation, complexity, and degree of anisotropy are sufficiently robust to automatically segment the pallidal nuclei using diffusion properties. Thus the gray matter diffusion signal can be useful as an in vivo measure of the collective nigrostriatal and striatonigral pathways.