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Supplementary Method, Supplementary Figures, Supplementary Note
Obtaining a histological fingerprint from the in-vivo brain has been a long-standing target of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In particular, non-invasive imaging of iron and myelin, which are involved in normal brain functions and are histopathological hallmarks in a few neurodegenerative diseases, has practical utilities in neuroscience and medicine. Here, we propose a biophysical model that describes the individual contribution of iron and myelin to MRI signals via their difference in magnetic susceptibility (i.e., paramagnetic iron vs. diamagnetic myelin). Using this model, we develop a method, χ-separation, that generates the voxel-wise distributions of iron and myelin. The method is validated using computer simulation and phantom experiments, and applied to ex-vivo and in-vivo brains. The results delineate the well-known histological features of iron and myelin in the specimen (e.g., co-localization of iron and myelin in Gennari line), healthy volunteers (e.g., myelin-lacking and iron-rich pulvinar), and multiple sclerosis patients (e.g., demyelinated iron-rim lesion). This new in-vivo histology technology, taking less than 20 min, may serve as a practical tool for exploring the microstructural information of the brain. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
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