The non-Gaussian diffusion quantification of brain tissues

Abstract

In this Magnetic resonance, imaging allows one to model the non-Gaussian diffusion process. This process is the result of applying restrictions in the movement of water protons within the biological tissue structure, which contains diffusion barriers and compartments. Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) quantifies the non-Gaussian diffusion by estimating the kurtosis of the displacement distribution. In the current work, we analyze the anisotropic feature of water proton diffusion in the main brain tissues (i.e. white matter WM, gray matter GM and cerebral spinal fluid CSF) based on the diffusion coefficient (D) and on the diffusional kurtosis (K), using a series expansion approach. By varying the b-value parameter over its range, we analyze the fit of the diffusion-weighted signal intensity data with the model of Gaussian diffusion and non-Gaussian diffusion.