What Can Magnetic Resonance Tractography Teach Us about Human Brain Anatomy?

Sept. 26, 2011 - PRLog -- New Rochelle, NY—Magnetic resonance tractography (MRT) is a valuable, noninvasive imaging tool for studying human brain anatomy and, as MRT methods and technologies advance, has the potential to yield new and illuminating information on brain activity and connectivity. Critical information about the promise and limitations of this technology is explored in a forward-looking review article in the groundbreaking new neuroscience journal Brain Connectivity (http://www.liebertpub.com/brain), a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://www.liebertpub.com).

Diffusion tractography allows scientists to visualize and determine the location of white matter in the brain. If current technological challenges associated with MRT are recognized and overcome, such as limitations in its accuracy and quantification, this imaging technique could make a significant contribution to the field of brain connectivity and to an understanding of how information and signals are transmitted across the brain, according to Saad Jbabdi and Heidi Johansen-Berg, University of Oxford, U.K., in the review article entitled, “Tractography: Where Do We Go from Here?”

“This emerging technology offers a new window into human brain anatomy. The technique has enormous potential for revealing the architecture of the human brain and its breakdown in disease. Recent developments mean that some of the limitations and challenges associated with this technique could be effectively tackled in the near future” says Heidi Johansen-Berg, PhD, co-author and Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain.

“Tractography: Where Do We Go from Here?” is available free online for a short period of time at www.liebertpub.com/brain

Brain Connectivity is the journal of record for researchers and clinicians interested in all aspects of brain connectivity. The Journal is under the leadership of founding and Co-Editors-in-Chief Christopher Pawela, PhD, assistant professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Bharat Biswal, PhD, associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. It includes original peer-reviewed papers, review articles, point-counterpoint discussions on controversies in the field, and a product/technology review section. To ensure that scientific findings are rapidly disseminated, articles are published Instant Online within 72 hours of acceptance, with fully typeset, fast-track publication within 4 weeks. Complete tables of content and a free sample issue may be viewed online at http://www.liebertpub.com/brain

# # #

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative medical and biomedical peer-reviewed journals, including Journal of Neurotrauma. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 70 journals, newsmagazines, and books is available at www.liebertpub.com