Human Brain Tractography

Michela Tosetti, Laura Biagi, Emilio Cipriano, 2019 IRCSS Stella Maris, Pisa

Nuclear magnetic resonance allows us to map the concentration and position of molecules containing nuclei of hydrogen within the human body, such as fat, protein or water. In this way it is possible to obtain high-resolution 3D images of tissues and organs. By tracing the direction and concentration of water molecules in the white matter of a living brain, it is possible to visualise the bands of nervous fibre connecting the different functional areas within the brain itself or with other sensory and motorial organs (tractography). The 3D image is generated by a reconstruction software from the resonance data. The conventionally-chosen colour schemes correspond to directional vectors pinpointing the span of each fibre according to different anatomical axes.Looking at the human body with imaging techniques of such sophistication contributes to providing us with a new vision of the human anatomy that includes microstructures and functional mapping of every organ, rather than just their macroscopic morphology.