Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
NMR Biomed. 2024 Dec;37(12):e5226. doi: 10.1002/nbm.5226. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
Iron and myelin are primary susceptibility sources in the human brain. These substances are essential for a healthy brain, and their abnormalities are often related to various neurological disorders. Recently, an advanced susceptibility mapping technique, which is referred to as χ-separation (pronounced as "chi"-separation), has been proposed, successfully disentangling paramagnetic iron from diamagnetic myelin. This method provided a new opportunity for generating high-resolution iron and myelin maps of the brain. Utilizing this technique, this study constructs a normative χ-separation atlas from 106 healthy human brains. The resulting atlas provides detailed anatomical structures associated with the distributions of iron and myelin, clearly delineating subcortical nuclei, thalamic nuclei, and white matter fiber bundles. Additionally, susceptibility values in a number of regions of interest are reported along with age-dependent changes. This atlas may have direct applications such as localization of subcortical structures for deep brain stimulation or high-intensity focused ultrasound and also serve as a valuable resource for future research.
铁和髓鞘是人类大脑中的主要易感性来源。这些物质对大脑的健康至关重要，它们的异常通常与各种神经紊乱有关。最近，一种先进的易感性映射技术，称为 χ 分离（发音为“chi”-separation），已被提出，成功地将顺磁铁与抗磁髓鞘分离。该方法为生成大脑的高分辨率铁和髓鞘图谱提供了新的机会。利用该技术，本研究从 106 个健康人脑构建了一个规范的 χ 分离图谱。生成的图谱提供了与铁和髓鞘分布相关的详细解剖结构，清晰地区分了皮质下核、丘脑核和白质纤维束。此外，还报告了一些感兴趣区域的磁化率值及其随年龄的变化。该图谱可直接应用于深部脑刺激或高强度聚焦超声的皮质下结构定位，也可作为未来研究的宝贵资源。
