Dissecting white matter pathways: A neuroanatomical approach

Forkel, S. J., Bortolami, C., Dulyan, L., Barrett, R. L. C., & Beyh, A. (2025). Dissecting white matter pathways: A neuroanatomical approach. In F. Dell'Acqua, M. Descoteaux, & A. Leemans (Eds.), Handbook of Diffusion MR Tractography (pp. 397-421). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
The brain is the most magnificent structure, and we are only at the cusp of unraveling some of its complexity. Neuroanatomy is the best tool to map the brain's structural complexity. As such, neuroanatomy is not just an academic exercise; it serves our fundamental understanding of the neurobiology of cognition and improves clinical practice. A deepened anatomical understanding has advanced our conceptual grasp of the evolution of the brain, interindividual variability of cognition in health and disease, and the conceptual shift toward the emergence of cognition. For the past 20 years, diffusion imaging tractography has dramatically facilitated these advances by enabling the study of the delicate networks that orchestrate brain processes (for review, see Thiebaut de Schotten and Forkel, 2022). Several steps are consistent across all studied populations and brain states (health/disease) when analyzing tractography data. We discuss various considerations for dissections across populations and give practical tips on common pitfalls and features to improve the visualization of the dissections. We briefly discuss specific considerations for manual dissections in nonhuman primates. Lastly, we provide an atlas of regions of interest (ROIs) for the most commonly delineated white matter connections in the human brain.
Publication type
Book chapter
Publication date
2025

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