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Abstract:
Aims Corpora amylacea, which contains polysaccharides, accumulates in human brain throughout aging. We aimed to use multi-modal imaging to locate corpora amylacea and investigate their three-dimensional morphological features. Methods Post mortem human brain stem samples (N=4) were scanned using high field MRI (14.1T, T2*weighted 62μm voxels) and Xray synchrotron-radiation-based phase-contrast microtomography (PhC-μCT, 1μm voxels). Using an automated segmentation pipeline, corpora amylacea were identified on PhC-μCT images and the diameters was calculated. Finally, the samples were sectioned and stained using Klüver-Barrera and Periodic-acid Schiff reaction. Results In both MRI and PhC-μCT, corpora amylacea rich regions showed signal contrast. Using automated segmentation of the PhC-μCT dataset, we detected over 40,000 corpora amylacea located at the intercollicular region that showed hyperintensity. In T2* weighted MRI, corpora amylacea rich regions had low signal due to T2* shortening. The median diameter of corpora amylacea was 12 μm. Sections stained with Periodic-acid Schiff reaction confirmed that these granular bodies are indeed corpora amylacea. Conclusions Corpora amylacea rich region shows noticeable contrast in T2* weighted MRI. In high resolution phase-contrast microtomography, individual corpora amylacea can be extracted.
