Quantitative T2* and T1 mapping of post-mortem MS tissue at 7T for discrimination of normal-appearing and dirty-appearing white matter pathology

Abstract

Quantitative T2* and T1 relaxometry metrics calculated at 7T have high sensitivity to myelin and can be jointly used to identify dirty-appearing white matter (DAWM) and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) pathology in post-mortem, multiple sclerosis (MS) brain tissue. Relaxometry mapping was performed on fixed, cerebral brain samples from MS patients and healthy donors. T2* and T1 distributions in WM from MS tissue exhibited bimodality and were shifted to higher relaxation time values compared to healthy tissue. Using k-means clustering applied to 2D T2* and T1 MS tissue data, regions of DAWM were detected in periventricular WM for MS tissue samples.