Yonsei Med J.  2013 May;54(3):785-787. 10.3349/ymj.2013.54.3.785.

Characteristics of Corticospinal Tract Area According to Pontine Level

• Seo JP
• Jang SH

• KMID: 1727898
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2013.54.3.785

Abstract

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allows to isolate the corticospinal tract (CST) area from adjacent structures. Using DTI, we investigated the characteristics of the CST areas according to the pontine level in the normal human brain. We recruited 33 healthy subjects and DTIs were acquired using a sensitivity-encoding head coil on a 1.5-T Philips Gyroscan Intera. We measured the size and fractional anisotropy (FA) value of the CST area at the upper, middle, and lower pons. The size of the CST area in the lower pons was smaller than those of the mid-pons and upper pons, and the size of the CST area in the mid-pons was smallerthan that of the upper pons (p<0.05). FA values of the lower pons were larger than those of the mid-pons and upper pons, and the FA value of the mid-pons was also larger than that of the upper pons (p<0.05). In summary, we found a smaller size and higher FA value of the CST area from rostral to caudal direction in the pons. These results suggest a more compact neural structure of CST areas from rostral to caudal direction in the pons.

Keyword

Diffusion tensor imaging; pons; corticospinal tract

MeSH Terms

Adult
Brain/*anatomy & histology
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Pyramidal Tracts/*anatomy & histology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 T2-weighted brain MR images (upper line) and color maps (lower line) of diffusion tensor images in the upper (A), middle (B), and lower pons (C). Line-drawn areas on the color maps indicate areas of the corticospinal tract.

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