Diattenuation of brain tissue and its impact on 3D polarized light imaging.

Miriam Menzel,Julia Reckfort,Hasan Köse,Daniel Weigand,Markus Axer,Katrin Amunts

doi:10.1364/boe.8.003163

Miriam Menzel, Julia Reckfort + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1364/boe.8.003163

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Abstract

3D-polarized light imaging (3D-PLI) reconstructs nerve fibers in histological brain sections by measuring their birefringence. This study investigates another effect caused by the optical anisotropy of brain tissue - diattenuation. Based on numerical and experimental studies and a complete analytical description of the optical system, the diattenuation was determined to be below 4 % in rat brain tissue. It was demonstrated that the diattenuation effect has negligible impact on the fiber orientations derived by 3D-PLI. The diattenuation signal, however, was found to highlight different anatomical structures that cannot be distinguished with current imaging techniques, which makes Diattenuation Imaging a promising extension to 3D-PLI.

Highlights

In order to understand the organization and function of the human brain, it is essential to study its fiber architecture, i. e. the spatial organization of the short- and long-range nerve fibers
We investigated the diattenuation of brain tissue and its impact on the measured 3D-Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) signal for the first time
The experimental study quantified the diattenuation of brain tissue and its impact on 3D-PLI, and demonstrated that the diattenuation signal reveals additional structural information about the brain tissue

Summary

Introduction

In order to understand the organization and function of the human brain, it is essential to study its fiber architecture, i. e. the spatial organization of the short- and long-range nerve fibers. E. the spatial organization of the short- and long-range nerve fibers. Mapping this highly complex fiber architecture requires specific imaging techniques that resolve the orientations of the fibers on a high spatial resolution and on a large field of view of up to several centimeters. The microscopy technique 3D-Polarized Light Imaging (3D-PLI) introduced by Axer et al [1, 2] meets these specific requirements. It reveals the three-dimensional architecture of nerve fibers in sections of whole post-mortem brains with a resolution of a few micrometers. The measurement provides strong contrasts between different fiber structures and allows a label-free microscopy and reconstruction of densely packed myelinated fibers in human brains and those of other species

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