Silvia De Santis1,2, Andrea Gabrielli3,
Emiliano Macaluso4, Marco Bozzali4, Silvia Capuani2,5
1CUBRIC, School of
Psychology, CARDIFF, South Glamorgan, United Kingdom; 2Physics
Department, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy; 3via dei Taurini 19,
ISC-CNR, Rome, Italy; 4Neuroimaging Laboratory Santa Lucia
Foundation, Rome, Italy; 5IPCF UOS Roma, Sapienza University,
Rome, Italy
The goal of the work was to investigate the correlation between the stretching exponential parameter, introduce to account for anomalous diffusion in brain tissue, and the magnetic susceptibility difference at tissue interface. A significant correlation was found between the two measurements, suggesting that local variations in magnetic susceptibility affect the diffusive motion. These results offer an innovative interpretation of water diffusion decay, and suggest that the peculiar contrast obtained using the stretched exponential model can be further explored and correlated to specific local microstructures.