Yu-Chien Wu1,2, Frances B. Haeberli2, Aaron S. Field1,3, Andrew L. Alexander2,4
1Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; 2Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging & Behavior, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; 3Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA; 4Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Diffusion spectrum imaging is a model-free and more generalized approach to describe water diffusion function, PDF, in complex brain tissues. In this study, hybrid diffusion imaging (HYDI) was used to estimate PDF and DTI measures across 52 human brains with an age span of 18-72 years-old. Age and gender effects were investigated on both the PDF and DTI measures, including Po, MSD, FA, MD, Da, Dr. The investigation was done in native space where white and gray matters were segmented. Little, but significant age and gender related changes were found. Furthermore, WM volume-ratio increases while GM decreases as age increases.