Biophysical modelling of white matter structure

脑白质构成了连接大脑不同区域的线路。它与数百种脑部疾病有关，是其中许多疾病的主要治疗对象。如果我们试图了解一种疾病的本质，能够对白质的特征进行详细的测量是很重要的；如果我们想观察一个特定病人的疾病进展；或者如果我们想知道一种药物是否对这种疾病有效。目前，只有使用显微镜才能在死亡的大脑中进行这些详细的测量。我们可以用核磁共振成像仪对活人进行测量，但这些测量要粗糙得多，只能给我们一个粗略的估计，即有关白质的某些东西发生了变化。我们建议使用不同种类的MRI数据和数学建模技术来详细测量白质的特定特征，如细胞大小、细胞密度和电绝缘量。在体内进行这些测量的能力将使医生和临床研究人员在建议治疗或研究疾病时获得更多的信息。

Brain white matter makes up the wires that connect different regions in the brain. It is affected in hundreds of brain diseases, and is the main target of many of these. It is important to be able to make detailed measurements of features of white matter if we are trying to understand the nature of a disease; if we want to watch the progression of a disease in a particular patient; or if we want to find out if a drug is being effective against the disease. At the moment, it is only possible to take these detailed measurements in a dead brain using a microscope. We can take measurements in living people using an MRI machine, but these are much coarser, only giving us a rough estimate that something about the white matter has changed. We propose to use different kinds of MRI data together with mathematical modelling techniques to make detailed measurements of specific features of white matter, such as the cell size, the density of the cells and the amount of electrical insulation. The ability to take these measurements in-vivo will give doctors and clinical researchers access to a great deal more information when they are suggesting treatment, or researching into the disease.