In vivo 3D axonal diameter estimation in the human brain with 300 mT/m gradient MRI

Synopsis The estimation of neural micro-structure in general and axon diameter in particular became feasible using advanced diffusion imaging frameworks such as CHARMED and AxCaliber. Recently, the AxCaliber model was extended to 3D enabling to capture the axonal properties of any fiber system in the brain. In this work we challenged the utility of using the CONNECTOM MRI, that provides a gradient strength of up to 300 mT/m, for axon diameter estimation. We found that the sensitivity of the model towards small diameter axons increases dramatically with the use of the strong gradient system increasing the validity and accuracy of AxCaliber3D