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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 3.
Published in final edited form as: Lancet. 2014 Jun 18;384(9942):532–544. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60041-6

Figure 2. Main MRI methods used to study Parkinson’s disease.

Figure 2

In the cortex, changes in cortical thickness (CTh) and grey matter volume or density (VBM) were reported (green boxes). Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to assess changes in brain activation levels during task performance (dark blue box). Changes in structural connectivity were evidenced using diffusion-based tractography and in functional connectivity at rest with resting state fMRI, which assesses correlation (r) between signal fluctuations in distant brain regions (light blue box). In the substantia nigra (red shape), increased iron load was assessed with T2* mapping (T2*) and more recently with quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), and microstructural changes with fractional anisotropy, which is decreased (red box). Neuromelanin imaging was used to study the locus coeruleus area (white arrow, yellow box).

rsfMRI=resting state fMRI. NM=neuromelanin imaging. FA=fractional anisotropy. T1=T1-weighted. T2*=gradient echo T2 mapping.