Hkan
Hagsltt1,2, Markus Nilsson3, Henrik Hansson3,
Jimmy Ltt1,3, Danielle van Westen1,2
1Center for Medical Imaging and
Physiology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; 2Department of
Diagnostic Radiology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; 3Department
of Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Axons
in fibre tracts may be non-straight and have an undulating, approximately
sinusoidal course. It is known that axonal undulations are present in the
peripheral nervous system and in some parts of the central nervous system
that are subjected to strain during locomotion, for instance, the optic
nerve. These undulations might affect parameters estimated using diffusion
MRI, such as the fractional anisotropy. Furthermore, measurements attempting
to estimate the axonal sizes might be biast towards an overestimated axonal
size when undulations are present.