Comparative evaluation of DKI and DTI in detecting white matter microstructural alterations in early-blind adolescents

Blind people is a natural bio-model for the investigation of neural plasticity. Diffusion-based MRI techniques are powerful probes for characterizing the effects of disease and neural development on tissue microstructure. This study compared diffusion Kurtosis Imaging (DKI) metrics and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics to explore white matter microstructural changes and neural plasticity in early-blind adolescents (EBAs). The results demonstrate microstructural complexity reduction and coexistence of neural reorganization and compensatory development process induced by visual deprivation in EBAs. And the DKI metrics are more sensitive in detecting changes in crossing fibers and pathology and development of disease than DTI metrics.