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Reproducibility of locus coeruleus and substantia nigra imaging with neuromelanin sensitive MRI

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Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to assess the reproducibility of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and locus coeruleus (LC) delineation and measurement with neuromelanin-sensitive MRI.

Materials and methods

Eleven subjects underwent two neuromelanin-sensitive MRI scans. SNpc and LC volumes were extracted for each scan. Reproducibility of volume and magnetization transfer contrast measurements in SNpc and LC was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and dice similarity coefficients (DSC).

Results

SNpc and LC volume measurements showed excellent reproducibility (SNpc-ICC: 0.94, p < 0.001; LC-ICC: 0.96, p < 0.001). SNpc and LC were accurately delineated between scans (SNpc-DSC: 0.80 ± 0.03; LC-DSC: 0.63 ± 0.07).

Conclusion

Neuromelanin-sensitive MRI can consistently delineate SNpc and LC.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJF 10854) and by Siemens Healthcare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jason Langley & Xiaoping Hu

  2. Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    Jason Langley

  3. Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Daniel E. Huddleston

  4. The Westminster Schools, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Christine J. Liu

  5. Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Materials Science and Engineering 205, Riverside, CA, USA

    Xiaoping Hu

Authors
  1. Jason Langley
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  2. Daniel E. Huddleston
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  3. Christine J. Liu
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  4. Xiaoping Hu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaoping Hu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Langley, J., Huddleston, D.E., Liu, C.J. et al. Reproducibility of locus coeruleus and substantia nigra imaging with neuromelanin sensitive MRI. Magn Reson Mater Phy 30, 121–125 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-016-0590-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-016-0590-z

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