Neuroscience Training Program, Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53705.
Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53705.
eNeuro. 2021 Mar 10;8(2). doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0426-20.2020. Print 2021 Mar-Apr.
Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) is an emerging magnetic resonance (MR) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) technique that permits non-invasive quantitative assessment of neurite density and morphology. NODDI has improved our ability to image neuronal microstructure over conventional techniques such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and is particularly suited for studies of the developing brain as it can measure and characterize the dynamic changes occurring in dendrite cytoarchitecture that are critical to early brain development. Neurodevelopmental alterations to the diffusion tensor have been reported in psychiatric illness, but it remains unknown whether advanced DWI techniques such as NODDI are able to sensitively and specifically detect neurodevelopmental changes in brain microstructure beyond those provided by DTI. We show, in an extension of our previous work with a svΔ2 rat genetic model of psychiatric illness, the enhanced sensitivity and specificity of NODDI to identify neurodevelopmental and sex-specific changes in brain microstructure that are otherwise difficult to observe with DTI and further corroborate observed changes in brain microstructure to differences in sex-specific systems-level animal behavior. Together, these findings inform the potential application and clinical translational utility of NODDI in studies of brain microstructure in psychiatric illness throughout neurodevelopment and further, the ability of advanced DWI methods such as NODDI to examine the role of biological sex and its influence on brain microstructure in psychiatric illness.
神经突方向分散和密度成像（NODDI）是一种新兴的磁共振（MR）扩散加权成像（DWI）技术，可实现神经突密度和形态的非侵入性定量评估。NODDI 提高了我们对神经元微观结构成像的能力，超过了扩散张量成像（DTI）等传统技术，特别适合研究发育中的大脑，因为它可以测量和描述树突细胞结构中发生的动态变化，这些变化对大脑早期发育至关重要。精神疾病中已经报道了扩散张量的神经发育改变，但尚不清楚高级 DWI 技术（如 NODDI）是否能够敏感而特异性地检测大脑微观结构中的神经发育变化，而不仅仅是 DTI 提供的变化。我们在以前的 svΔ2 大鼠精神疾病遗传模型的工作基础上进行了扩展，展示了 NODDI 在识别脑微观结构的神经发育和性别特异性变化方面的更高敏感性和特异性，而这些变化很难用 DTI 观察到，并进一步证实了观察到的脑微观结构变化与动物行为的性别特异性系统水平差异之间的关联。总之，这些发现为 NODDI 在精神疾病整个神经发育过程中的脑微观结构研究中的潜在应用和临床转化提供了信息，进一步证明了高级 DWI 方法（如 NODDI）检查生物学性别及其对精神疾病中脑微观结构影响的能力。
