Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35344591›Full record

ArticleMagnetic resonance in medicine2022

Imaging white matter microstructure with gradient-echo phase imaging: Is ex vivo imaging with formalin-fixed tissue a good approximation of the in vivo brain?

Kwok-Shing Chan, Renaud Hédouin, Jeroen Mollink, Jenni Schulz, Anne-Marie van Cappellen van Walsum, José P Marques

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Magnetic resonance in medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Axon Diameter Mapping From Myelin Water Diffusion MRI.IEEE transactions on medical imaging · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Kwok-Shing ChanDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8427-169X
Renaud HédouinDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-4341-9907
Jeroen MollinkDepartment of Medical Imaging, Anatomy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0003-1199-324X
Jenni SchulzDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Anne-Marie van Cappellen van WalsumDepartment of Medical Imaging, Anatomy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
José P MarquesDonders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0001-8157-8864
Radboud University Nijmegen · NLCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeEx vivo imaging is a commonly used approach to investigate the biophysical mechanism of orientation-dependent signal phase evolution in white matter. Yet, how phase measurements are influenced by the structural alteration in the tissue after formalin fixation is not fully understood. Here, we study the effects on magnetic susceptibility, microstructural compartmentalization, and chemical exchange measurement with a postmortem formalin-fixed whole-brain human tissue.

methodsA formalin-fixed, postmortem human brain specimen was scanned with multiple orientations to the main magnetic field direction for robust bulk magnetic susceptibility measurement with conventional quantitative susceptibility imaging models. White matter samples were subsequently excised from the whole-brain specimen and scanned in multiple rotations on an MRI scanner to measure the anisotropic magnetic susceptibility and microstructure-related contributions in the signal phase and to validate the findings of the whole-brain data.

resultsThe bulk isotropic magnetic susceptibility of ex vivo whole-brain imaging is comparable to in vivo imaging, with noticeable enhanced nonsusceptibility contributions. The excised specimen experiment reveals that anisotropic magnetic susceptibility and compartmentalization phase effect were considerably reduced in the formalin-fixed white matter specimens.

conclusionsFormalin-fixed postmortem white matter exhibits comparable isotropic magnetic susceptibility to previous in vivo imaging findings. However, the measured phase and magnitude data of the fixed white matter tissue shows a significantly weaker orientation dependency and compartmentalization effect. Alternatives to formalin fixation are needed to better reproduce the in vivo microstructural effects in postmortem samples.

Indexed as

White MatterAnisotropyBrainFormaldehydeHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingFormaldehydeex vivo imagingmicrostructurephase imagingquantitative susceptibility imagingwhite matter

Identifiers

PMID35344591
PMCPMC9314807
OpenAlexW4220909678

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.