FRACTIONAL ANISOTROPY ESTIMATION AS A WAY TO IDENTIFY PATHOLOGIES OF THE CEREBRAL ARTERIAL SYSTEM

DOI: https://doi.org/10.29296/24999490-2019-05-07

V.S. Kopylova, S.E. Boronovskiy, Ya.R. Nartsissov Research Institute of Cytochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, 6th Radialnaya str., 24/14, Moscow, 115404, Russian Federation Е-mail: [email protected]

Introduction. The correct functioning of the circulatory system allows providing stability of the brain and prevents the progression of pathological processes. The search for prognostic markers which make it possible to predict the appearance and adverse course of neurodegenerative diseases plays a key role in the vascular system research. The values indicating deviations in the blood supply to different regions or the organ as a whole relate to the topological characteristics of the vascular tree. The aim of the study was to identify the geometrical markers of the created vascular system, capable of indicating the possibility of the development of a pathological process in the organ under consideration. Methods. The model of the arterial tree of the rat brain was used as an experimental object in the work. The vascular network was structurally divided into deterministic and stochastic parts. The first part includes the main arteries that form the circle of Willis; the second one consists of the smaller vessels, realized in the form of a binary tree. The total bifurcation angles and fractional anisotropy which are the parameters characterizing the topological complexity of the network were estimated. The calculation of the fractional anisotropy of the constructed arterial systems was made on the basis of the standard methods using a weighted average covariance matrix. Results. It was shown that the value of the total bifurcation angle does not fall below the experimentally measured physiological threshold value (73°) in the constructed arterial model under the theoretically justified bifurcation exponent of 3.0. The value of the calculated fractional anisotropy in this case is equal to 0.014. With an increase in the bifurcation exponent, the vasculature becomes more isotropic, while vessels with a smaller caliber have a more uniform distribution density. Conclusion. The threshold value of fractional anisotropy corresponding to the physiologically correct arterial system was estimated on the basis of the total bifurcation angle. This parameter is proposed to be used as an indicator of vascular pathologies, since the experimental assessment of anisotropy is performed using the results of clinical studies and does not require additional manual segmentation, in contrast to the calculation of the bifurcation angles.
Keywords: 
arterial system, bifurcation of blood vessels, cerebrovascular diseases, computer modelling
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