Tractography of the stria terminalis in the human brain

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the trajectory of the stria terminalis and develop a protocol for mapping the stria terminalis using multi‐shell diffusion images based tractography. The stria terminalis was reconstructed by combining one region of interest at the amygdala with another region of interest at the bed nucleus of stria terminalis. In addition, one region of avoidance was placed on the fornix at the interventricular foramen and another was set at the anterior perforated substance. The fiber‐tracking protocol was tested in a Human Connectome Project‐842 template, 35 healthy subjects from Massachusetts General Hospital, and 20 healthy subjects from the Human Connectome Project using generalized q‐sampling imaging based tractography. The stria terminalis was reconstructed in the Human Connectome Project‐842 template, 35 Massachusetts General Hospital healthy subjects, and 20 Human Connectome Project healthy subjects with our protocol. The stria terminalis originated from the amygdala and traveled parallel to the fornix. Then, the stria terminalis followed a C‐shaped trajectory around the inferior, posterior, and dorsal surfaces of the thalamus before projecting to the bed nucleus of stria terminalis between the thalamus and caudate nucleus. There were no significant differences in the quantitative anisotropy and fractional anisotropy values between the left and right stria terminalis. The stria terminalis was accurately visualized across subjects using multi‐shell diffusion images through generalized q‐sampling imaging based tractography. This method could be an important tool for the reconstruction and evaluation of the stria terminalis in various neurological disorders. One Sentence Summary The visualization of the stria terminalis through the multi‐shell diffusion images using generalized q‐sampling imaging based tractography.

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