FRACTAL DIMENSION IN HUMAN CEREBELLUM MEASURED BY MRI

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。在生物学和医学中，分形维数已被广泛用于量化物体的结构。在这项研究中，我们将使用MR CB图像来测量人类小脑的分形维数（FD）。采集健康成人受试者覆盖整个脑后丘的高分辨率冠状MRI图像，白质疾病（自闭症、多发性硬化症等）患者脑后丘图像将被重新采样为一系列不同三维分辨率的图像集。在每个分辨率下，将获得CB白质的骨架，并确定属于骨架的像素数。采用盒计数法计算CB骨架的分形维数。将正常受试者组与患者组的分形维数进行比较，量化结构变化。分形维数可以作为CB在发育、退化、病变或进化阶段的结构复杂性和形态变化的定量指标。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Fractal dimension has been used to quantify the structures of a wide range of objects in biology and medicine. In this study we will measure the fractal dimension (FD) of human cerebellum (CB) using MR CB images. High resolution coronal MRI brain images covering the whole CB will be collected from healthy adult subjects and patients with white matter diseases (AUTISM, MS, etc.) CB images will be resampled to a series of image sets with different three-dimensional resolutions. At each resolution, the skeleton of the CB white matter will be obtained and the number of pixels belonging to the skeleton will be determined. Fractal dimension of the CB skeleton will be calculated using the box-counting method. Fractal dimension will be compared between the normal subjects group and patients group to quantify the structure changes. The fractal dimension may serve as a quantitative index for structural complexity and morphometric changes of the CB at its developmental, degenerative, diseased or evolutional stages.