The dentate nuclei (DN), interposed nuclei (IN (emboliform nuclei and globose nuclei)) and fastigial nuclei comprise the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) which play a vital role in motor function. With the exception of vestibular information, the DCN is the predominant source of the output of the cerebellar circuitry1. What the most important for researching cerebellum-related diseases is to display all the DCN clearly, therefore, the present study aimed to visualize all the DCN of healthy controls (HCs) and to investigate the baseline of all the...

We enrolled 40 HCs (male/female: 18/22, age: mean 56.3 ± 8.7, range 41-70years). All subjects were scanned on a 3T Philips MRI system using 3D multi-echo strategically acquired gradient echo (STAGE) imaging2. The imaging parameters were: an in-plane resolution = 0.67 mm × 1 mm, (interpolated to 0.67mm x 0.67mm), TE = 7.5ms, TR = 26.6ms, pixel bandwidth = 189Hz/pixel and slice thickness = 1.34mm. We visualized all DCN for all participants. All DCN were drawn manually on the QSM data using SPIN software (SpinTech...

Figure 1 shows the DCN of an HC (a 64year-old woman) on the QSM data. This set of images displays the DN, IN, and FN in different orientations. Table 1 lists the volume and susceptibility (mean ± standard deviation) of the DCN in the HCs. The volume of the DN in the HCs (right: 931 ± 191 mm3; left: 931 ± 204 mm3) was concordant with previous research3, 4 and the susceptibility value of the DN in the HCs (right: 86 ± 24ppb, left: 90...

The DCN was visible in all subjects. The first study using MRI to visualize the DCN was by Dimitrova et al7. They developed an atlas of the DCN using a single brain using long TE, low flip angle, gradient echo imaging. Another paper by Deoni et al.4 used T1maps and spin density maps to differentiate the DCN. Although, T1images can be used to image the DCN, by contrast, QSM is able to provide good contrast-to-noise and it is much easier to see the different nuclei....

Manto M, Oulad Ben Taib N. Cerebellar nuclei: key roles for strategically located structures. Cerebellum 2010;9:17-21. Chen Y, Liu S, Wang Y, Kang Y, Haacke EM. STrategically Acquired Gradient Echo (STAGE) imaging, part I: Creating enhanced T1 contrast and standardized susceptibility weighted imaging and quantitative susceptibility mapping. Magn Reson Imaging 2018;46:130-139. Ward PGD, Harding IH, Close TG, et al. Longitudinal evaluation of iron concentration and atrophy in the dentate nuclei in friedreich ataxia. Mov Disord 2019;34:335-343. Deoni SC, Catani M. Visualization of the deep cerebellar...

y. zhang: Nothing to disclose N. He: Nothing to disclose F. Yan: Nothing to disclose E. M. Haacke: Nothing to disclose