Towards validation of diffusion MRI tractography: bridging the resolution gap with 3D Polarized Light Imaging

Abstract

International audienceSynopsis Three-dimensional Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) is an optical approach presented as a good candidate for validation of diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) results such as orientation estimates (fiber Orientation Distribution Functions) and tractography. We developed an anlytical approach to reconstruct fiber ODFs from 3D-PLI datasets. From these fODFs, here we compute brain fiber tracts via dMRI-based probabilistic tractography algorithm. Reconstructed fODFs at different scales proves the ability to bridge the resolution gap between 3D-PLI and dMRI, demonstrating, therefore, a great promise to validate diffusion MRI tractography thanks to multi-scale fiber tracking based on 3D-PLI