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http://dx.doi.org/10.7742/jksr.2021.15.4.555

Exploring the Thalamus of the Human Brain using Tractography Analysis at 3Tesla MRI  

Im, Sang-Jin (Core Facility for Cell to in-vivo Imaging, Lee Gil Ya Cancer and Diabetes Institute, Gachon University)
Kim, Joo-Yeon (Center for Research Equipment, Korea Basic Science Institute)
Baek, Hyeon-Man (Core Facility for Cell to in-vivo Imaging, Lee Gil Ya Cancer and Diabetes Institute, Gachon University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology / v.15, no.4, 2021 , pp. 555-564 More about this Journal
Abstract
Thalamus is known to play an important role in the regulation of nerve function. Thalamus, located in the center of the brain, is involved in sleep, arousal, and emotional regulation, and has been reported to be associated with multiple sclerosis, essential tremors, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. In addition, it has been reported that iron deposits in the thalamus can cause depressive symptoms with age. Although there are discrepancies between studies, it can be deduced that the thalamus region has a clear effect on neurological disorders due to a strong relationship between the thalamus and neurological functions such as emotional control and processing. Through tractography analysis, the connectivity between the detailed areas of each subcortical region was investigated in the form of a matrix, showing strong connectivity and weak interhemispheric connectivity. In the 59> group, the WM connectivity of thalamus was found to be weaker than those of the two groups. Comparisons between the two groups showed that the young groups (10-39 and 40-59) had higher connection intensity than the 59> group and that statistically significant differences in 3 connection pathways were found in each hemisphere. A decrease in thalamus-related connection strength in aging has shown that it can affect emotional and neurological disorders such as anxiety and depression, and network measurements can help assess cognitive impairment across clinical conditions.
Keywords
Thalamus; Tractography; Aging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neurological disorder; Diffusion Tensor Imaging;
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