AUTHOR=Gawryluk Jodie R. , Mazerolle Erin L. , Beyea Steven D. , D'Arcy Ryan C. N. 

TITLE=Functional MRI activation in white matter during the Symbol Digit Modalities Test

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00589

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2014.00589

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background</bold>: Recent evidence shows that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can detect activation in white matter (WM). Such advances have important implications for understanding WM dysfunction. A key step in linking neuroimaging advances to the evaluation of clinical disorders is to examine whether WM activation can be detected at the individual level during clinical tests associated with WM function. We used an adapted Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) in a 4T fMRI study of healthy adults.</p><p><bold>Results</bold>: Results from 17 healthy individuals revealed WM activation in 88% of participants (15/17). The activation was in either the corpus callosum (anterior and/or posterior) or internal capsule (left and/or right).</p><p><bold>Conclusions</bold>: The findings link advances in fMRI to an established clinical test of WM function. Future work should focus on evaluating patients with WM dysfunction.</p>