Cerebellar Pathways in Mouse Model of Purkinje Cell Degeneration Detected by High-Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging Tractography

Cerebellar MR imaging has several challenging aspects, due to the fine, repetitive layered structure of cortical folia with underlying axonal pathways. In this MR study, we imaged with high-angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) abnormal cerebellar cortical structure (gray matter) and myelinated axonal pathways (white matter) of a mouse spontaneous mutation, Purkinje cell degeneration (pcd), in which almost all Purkinje neurons degenerate, mainly between postnatal days 20 and 35. Mouse brains at postnatal day 20 (P20) and at 8 months were scanned, and known or expected abnormalities, such as reduction of the white matter volume, disorganized pathways likely linked to parallel fibers, mossy fibers, and other fibers running from/to the cerebellar cortex were observed in mutant mice. Such abnormalities were detected at both an early and a fully advanced degeneration stage. These results suggest that our diffusion MR tractography is useful for early detection and tracking of neuropathology in the cerebellum.