Creation of a cross-population white matter atlas for concurrent mapping of brain connections between Eastern and Western populations

Motivation: Existing white matter atlases are usually created based on a certain population, which may omit subtle differences across populations from different cultures. Goal(s): This study presents a fine-scale white matter atlas that is created concurrently using high-quality diffusion MRI data from both Eastern and Western populations. Approach: The curated atlas includes a cluster-level parcellation of 800 fiber clusters from the entire brain and an anatomical tract parcellation of 53 major long-range white matter connections. Results: Comparative assessment between the two populations within the atlas shows highly visually similar white matter geometry but significant differences when measuring streamline counts in the fiber parcels. Impact: We propose a diffusion MRI tractography atlas that enables concurrent white matter parcellation across Eastern and Western populations. While the white matter geometry is visually similar, the number of streamlines in the fiber parcels differs significantly between the two populations.