Towards quantifying Gray Matter “micro-connectivity”: the measurable impact of dendritic spines on metabolite diffusion

Motivation: Dendritic spines are fine microstructures increase the complexity of brain cells. Spines are characteristic morphological feature of neurons and their density can change with pathological conditions. Goal(s): Quantification of dendritic spines in gray matter in human brain using diffusion-weighted MR spectroscopyApproach: Using Monte-Carlo diffusion simulations for metabolites, to investigate how a dMRS signal is sensitive to the dendritic spines. Results: Our findings suggests potential biomarkers for characterizing dendritic spines in human brain gray matter using diffusion-weighted MR spectroscopyImpact: This work establishes a benchmark for spine sensitivity and quantification. Also it offers potential dMRS acquisition parameters for spine detection in human brain.