DataVXAdvanced Materials TechnologiesPaper
journal article·2024-02Open access

Toward Printing the Brain: A Microstructural Ground Truth Phantom for MRI

Michael Woletz, Franziska Chalupa‐Gantner, Benedikt Hager, Alexander Ricke, Siawoosh Mohammadi, Stefan Binder, Stefan Baudis, Aleksandr Ovsianikov, Christian Windischberger, Zoltan Nagy

Advanced Materials Technologies· Volume 9· Issue 3
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Abstract

Abstract Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the prime imaging technique for in vivo examination of the brain. In addition to anatomical and functional MRI, diffusion MRI (dMRI) is widely used in both clinics and research to assess tissue structure and fiber directions, particularly in the nervous system. While diffusion tensor imaging is the most widespread approach for assessing orientation measures, other, more sophisticated models have also been proposed. Validation of dMRI is, however, a challenging endeavor that requires specialized test samples. Here it is shown that two‐photon polymerization (2PP) 3D printing allows for manufacturing such test objects, a.k.a. phantoms. After upscaling the 2PP fabrication process, 3D structures at high spatial resolution and sufficient size to image in a human 7T MRI scanner are created. These phantoms reliably mimic human white matter and thus enable the systematic validation and verification of dMRI data and their analyses. The 3D‐printed structures include up to 51 000 microchannels that mimic the diffusion behavior of larger axons, with a cross‐section of 12 × 12 µm2 each, in parallel and crossing arrangements. The acquired dMRI data demonstrates and verifies the utility of these novel brain phantoms.
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Research context

PolymersMaterials processing

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications · Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications · Peripheral Nerve Disorders

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Division MR Physics, Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Medical University of Vienna Vienna 1090 Austria

3D Printing and Biofabrication Group Institute of Materials Science and Technology TU Wien Vienna 1060 Austria

Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration Vienna 1200 Austria

High Field MR Centre Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image‐guided Therapy Medical University of Vienna Vienna 1090 Austria

Institute of Applied Synthetic Chemistry TU Wien Vienna 1060 Austria

Department of Systems Neuroscience University Medical Center Hamburg‐Eppendorf 20249 Hamburg Germany

Department of Neurophysics Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences 04103 Leipzig Germany

Max Planck Research Group MR Physics Max Planck Institute for Human Development 14195 Berlin Germany

Laboratory for Social and Neural Systems Research (SNS Lab) University of Zurich Zurich 8091 Switzerland

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft · Austrian Science Fund · Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung · Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung

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