Source-separated susceptibility tensor MRI reveals paramagnetic and diamagnetic anisotropy in a postmortem chimpanzee brain
Abstract
Magnetic susceptibility in brain white matter is anisotropic because of the ordered arrangement of myelin lipids, whereas paramagnetic iron is generally not considered a source of susceptibility anisotropy. Whether spatially organized paramagnetic sources also contribute to tissue-level susceptibility anisotropy remains unclear. Here we analyze multi-orientation gradient-echo MRI and diffusion MRI data from a paraformaldehyde-fixed postmortem adult male western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) brain and use DECOMPOSE-QSM to separate paramagnetic and diamagnetic susceptibility components before tensor reconstruction. The diamagnetic component shows the expected anisotropy in white matter and aligns with major diffusion-based fiber orientations. The paramagnetic component also shows coherent anisotropy, most prominently in deep gray matter and in parts of white matter. Numerical modeling further supports that an ordered spatial arrangement of otherwise isotropic paramagnetic sources can produce orientation-dependent susceptibility. These results suggest that source-separated susceptibility tensor imaging provides complementary information about tissue-specific susceptibility organization beyond conventional susceptibility tensor imaging.
Related
- First molecular characterization of Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto genotype G1 from a common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in the Kuwait Zoo.
- Phase Image Display Settings for Paramagnetic Rim Lesion Detection in Multiple Sclerosis: A Practical Guide
- Durability of a physician-modified endograft constructed using the Terumo Aortic TREO device: A postmortem evaluation
- Current Practices in Postmortem Investigation of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy
- Generalizing Amyloid β Pathology from Postmortem Human Brains with Vision Foundation Models for Lesion Quantification
BibTeX
@article{chen2026sourceseparated,
title = {{Source-separated susceptibility tensor MRI reveals paramagnetic and diamagnetic anisotropy in a postmortem chimpanzee brain}},
author = {Jingjia Chen and Dimitrios G Gkotsoulias and Jenny E Jaffe and Tobias Gräßle and Carsten Jäger and Zoro B Goné Bi and Catherine Crockford and Roman Wittig and Harald E Möller and Chunlei Liu},
journal = {Communications Biology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s42003-026-10580-7},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05781139v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Source-separated susceptibility tensor MRI reveals paramagnetic and diamagnetic anisotropy in a postmortem chimpanzee brain
AU - Jingjia Chen
AU - Dimitrios G Gkotsoulias
AU - Jenny E Jaffe
AU - Tobias Gräßle
AU - Carsten Jäger
AU - Zoro B Goné Bi
AU - Catherine Crockford
AU - Roman Wittig
AU - Harald E Möller
AU - Chunlei Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
JO - Communications Biology
DO - 10.1038/s42003-026-10580-7
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05781139v1
AB - Magnetic susceptibility in brain white matter is anisotropic because of the ordered arrangement of myelin lipids, whereas paramagnetic iron is generally not considered a source of susceptibility anisotropy. Whether spatially organized paramagnetic sources also contribute to tissue-level susceptibility anisotropy remains unclear. Here we analyze multi-orientation gradient-echo MRI and diffusion MRI data from a paraformaldehyde-fixed postmortem adult male western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus) brain and use DECOMPOSE-QSM to separate paramagnetic and diamagnetic susceptibility components before tensor reconstruction. The diamagnetic component shows the expected anisotropy in white matter and aligns with major diffusion-based fiber orientations. The paramagnetic component also shows coherent anisotropy, most prominently in deep gray matter and in parts of white matter. Numerical modeling further supports that an ordered spatial arrangement of otherwise isotropic paramagnetic sources can produce orientation-dependent susceptibility. These results suggest that source-separated susceptibility tensor imaging provides complementary information about tissue-specific susceptibility organization beyond conventional susceptibility tensor imaging.
SN - 2399-3642
ER -