TY - JOUR
T1 - Using diffusion tractography to predict cortical connection strength and distance
T2 - A quantitative comparison with tracers in the monkey
AU - Donahue, Chad J.
AU - Sotiropoulos, Stamatios N.
AU - Jbabdi, Saad
AU - Hernandez-Fernandez, Moises
AU - Behrens, Timothy E.
AU - Dyrby, Tim B.
AU - Coalson, Timothy
AU - Kennedy, Henry
AU - Knoblauch, Kenneth
AU - Van Essen, David C.
AU - Glasser, Matthew F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 the authors.
PY - 2016/6/22
Y1 - 2016/6/22
N2 - Tractography based on diffusion MRI offers the promise of characterizing many aspects of long-distance connectivity in the brain, but requires quantitative validation to assess its strengths and limitations. Here, we evaluate tractography’s ability to estimate the presence and strength of connections between areas of macaque neocortex by comparing its results with published data from retrograde tracer injections. Probabilistic tractography was performed on high-quality postmortem diffusion imaging scans from two Old World monkey brains. Tractography connection weights were estimated using a fractional scaling method based on normalized streamline density. We found a correlation between log-transformed tractography and tracer connection weights of r=0.59, twice that reported in a recent study on the macaque. Using a novel method to estimate interareal connection lengths from tractography streamlines, we regressed out the distance dependence of connection strength and found that the correlation between tractography and tracers remains positive, albeit substantially reduced. Altogether, these observations provide a valuable, data-driven perspective on both the strengths and limitations of tractography for analyzing interareal corticocortical connectivity in nonhuman primates and a framework for assessing future tractography methodological refinements objectively.
AB - Tractography based on diffusion MRI offers the promise of characterizing many aspects of long-distance connectivity in the brain, but requires quantitative validation to assess its strengths and limitations. Here, we evaluate tractography’s ability to estimate the presence and strength of connections between areas of macaque neocortex by comparing its results with published data from retrograde tracer injections. Probabilistic tractography was performed on high-quality postmortem diffusion imaging scans from two Old World monkey brains. Tractography connection weights were estimated using a fractional scaling method based on normalized streamline density. We found a correlation between log-transformed tractography and tracer connection weights of r=0.59, twice that reported in a recent study on the macaque. Using a novel method to estimate interareal connection lengths from tractography streamlines, we regressed out the distance dependence of connection strength and found that the correlation between tractography and tracers remains positive, albeit substantially reduced. Altogether, these observations provide a valuable, data-driven perspective on both the strengths and limitations of tractography for analyzing interareal corticocortical connectivity in nonhuman primates and a framework for assessing future tractography methodological refinements objectively.
KW - Cerebral cortex
KW - Connectivity
KW - Diffusion tractography
KW - Macaque
KW - Neuroanatomy
KW - Retrograde tracing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84975293563&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0493-16.2016
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0493-16.2016
M3 - Article
C2 - 27335406
AN - SCOPUS:84975293563
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 36
SP - 6758
EP - 6770
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 25
ER -