News Releases & Research Results Acceleration of brain mapping research by artificial intelligence (AI) - Improved accuracy and reliability of AI-based brain circuit mapping technology by the Japanese brain science project -

The results of research conducted by Professor Kenji Doya of the Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST).

• To reveal the whole-brain connectivity (“connectome”) between various brain regions, a new method was developed to improve the accuracy of MRI analysis of the cranial nerve pathways.
• Specifically, multiple parameters prepared with random changes were employed to estimate the connectome from diffusion MRI data using an AI-based “evolutionary algorithm.”
• The results of this research should facilitate the elucidation of alterations in the neural pathways responsible for neuropsychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

This project was conducted with the support of the Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) by AMED.

The results were published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports on December 18.

Carlos Enrique Gutierrez, et al. Optimization and Validation of Diffusion MRI-based Fiber Tracking with Neural Tracer Data as a Reference Scientific Reports
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-78284-4