Application of Diffusion Tensor Imaging to Study the White Matter Integrity and Coherence in Resting Electroencephalography

In brain’s connectivity study, there are some methods to perform it. Review the current methods; some are anatomically orientated such as diffusion tensor image using from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tools. Another advance sequence such as diffusion spectrum imaging, high angle resolution diffusion image or etc had been proposed. Another method had been used is functional connectivity. These included resting state function MRI analysis or connectivity study using MRI by selective seeding one area to search the coherence in the signal within the brain. Similar analysis had been developed in the electroencephalography (EEG) study. The most common index in EEG for study the connectivity is coherence index. There is well known that the EEG coherence may represent the brain structure basis. However, there is no known about the relationship between the coherence from different frequency band and the white matter fiber tract. In the present study, we will search the coherence in 100 subjects and explore the biological basis of the coherence in the resting stat EEG. Diffusion tensor image will be acquired from every subjects and resting state EEG will be performed at the same day. After that sophisticated image analysis procedure from image reconstruction to spatial normalization, and statistic analysis will be performed. EEG coherence data will be calculated and finally, search the fiber connection from the gray matter behind the electrode to another gray matter region will be done in each individual. After that, the frequency specific coherence in every electrode pair will be correlated with the DTI index for each connective fiber tract. These will give us an anatomical basis of frequency specific resting state EEG coherence and further expand our knowledge of brain’s electrophysiology.