Riccardo Metere1, Markus Morawski2, Carsten Jäger2, and Harald E. Möller1
The tissue composition of the brain can be related to different contrast sources in quantitative MRI. Particularly, myelin and iron are considered to be major sources of MRI contrast, with strong correlation to $$$T_1$$$ and $$$T_2^*$$$, respectively. However, other components, may also play a role in contrast generation. In this work, we present experiments in post-mortem human brain specimens to disentangle the potential contribution of the hyaluronan-based extracellular matrix from other contrast sources in quantitative relaxation maps. This was achieved by comparing images of digested and undigested samples that were otherwise subject to the same environmental conditions.
