FIBRASCAN: A novel method for 3D white matter tract reconstruction in MR space from cadaveric dissection

How Klingler’s dissection permits exploration of brain structural connectivity? An electron microscopy study of human white matter

“…Therefore, it is not possible to expose the entire cerebral network in a unique specimen using this method, but dissection can track one bundle through a crossing region efficiently and is, therefore, an interesting way of testing the robustness of tracking algorithms. Finally, in the light of our findings, we will extend our electron microscopic studies by investigating regions of crossing fibers using our FIBRASCAN method (Serres et al 2013;Zemmoura et al 2014) to locate the studied sample in the MRI of the same specimen precisely, and we will test the dissectability of other fixing agents that could enhance the efficacy of fiber dissection.…”

“…And third, Klingler's method which, compared to other techniques, has several advantages: (1) it provides direct visualization of the fibers (Fig. 7), (2) fibers do not lose their 3D coherence; thus, it does not depend on reconstruction algorithms such as PLI, OCT or post-mortem tractography, (3) it has the same resolution as diffusion tractography of the order of the millimeter (Zemmoura et al 2014), and (4) it can be applied to the human brain.…”

“…Nevertheless, dissection based on Klingler's method sometimes appears as a historical technique in the Neuroscience community and several limitations regarding its use as a validation tool for tractography have been raised. We previously described these limitations (see Zemmoura et al 2014 for details): dissection has a lower spatial resolution than histology, PLI or OCT; it is time consuming and requires experienced operators to obtain satisfactory results; it is unable to study crossing fibers on the same anatomical specimen; it is said not to follow fiber tracts up to their cortical endings. Despite these limitations, dissection is nowadays the only validation method that can be used in the human while preserving the 3D-coherence of fiber bundles, and that directly visualizes the human connectome at about the same scale as MR tractography.…”

The use of a cerebral perfusion and immersion–fixation process for subsequent white matter dissection

“…The SWM is known to contain short cortical association fibres, but their location, number, and trajectories have only recently been better defined with other techniques (Oishi et al, 2008;Axer et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2011;Dammers et al, 2012;Magnain et al, 2014). Since a good correlation between anatomy and diffusion tractography is generally accepted (Zemmoura et al, 2014), direct comparison between Table 1 Comparison of the different steps for specimen preparation according to our protocol and the Klingler's technique.…”

“…The classical course of the major WM bundles has been exposed with a comparable accuracy in respect to DTT and anatomical studies with a classical preparation method (Ture et al, 2000;Catani and Thiebaut de Schotten, 2008;Fernandez-Miranda et al, 2008;Martino et al, 2010;Maldonado et al, 2013;Zemmoura et al, 2014). However, the quality of the specimens was in many cases higher than expected so the careful blunt dissection allowed us to completely remove these major fascicles en bloc (Fig.…”