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Abstract #0704

MR Diffusion-Based Histology and Micro-Tractography Reveal Mesoscale Features of the Human Cerebellum

Flavio Dell'Acqua1, 2, Istvan Bodi3, David Alexander Slater1, Marco Catani1, 4, Michel Modo5, 6

1NATBRAINLAB, Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom; 2NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, Kings College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom; 3Department of Clinical Neuropathology, King's College Hospital, London, United Kingdom; 4NATBRAINLAB, Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom; 5McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 6Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Although a detailed cytoarchitectural description of the human brain by histology is long established, a comprehensive description of its connections ranging from major white matter pathways to small short-range fascicles remains elusive. Diffusion MR histology and micro-tractography offers a three-dimensional description of tissue cytoarchitecture at a mesoscale level. These methods produce quantitative information that, coupled with high-resolution visualisation of small fibres, fills the gap between large-scale network mapping and microscopic histology. We believe that this approach, applied to a fixed post-mortem cerebellum, represents an essential step forward in the understanding of the human brain and cerebellar connectivity and its functions.

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Keywords

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