Linking multimodal MRI metrics and their changes to histological underpinnings

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Non-invasive brain imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has enabled major advances in understanding the structure and function of the brain. It is now possible to obtain a large number of parameters derived from diffusion and T1 imaging allowing the structure of white and gray matter to be observed with high resolution. However, even at the best resolution possible in vivo, the signal from each voxel corresponds to several thousand cells and subcellular entities. The precise composition of brain tissue that explains the differences in the properties of white and gray matter as seen on MRIs is not yet fully understood. In addition, we have long known that the brain is plastic and that it can reorganize itself throughout our lives, and these changes are observable with modern MRI techniques. However, the histologic foundations underlying the patterns of reorganization observable on MRI remain largely unknown. Chronic pain is known to induce this type of morphological change that can be seen on MRI. The research project presented here will focus on inducing chronic pain in an animal model in order to identify the regions in white and gray matter that reorganize the most. Subsequently, histological sections of the brain will be taken in order to mark different brain cell components to identify which cell types are present, and then to quantify the changes induced by chronic pain and to correlate these with the changes observed in MRI. The main goal is to find, when we observe a change in the signal obtained by MRI, what are the real cellular changes explaining these differences.