The myelin water imaging transcriptome: myelin water fraction regionally varies with genes associated with oligodendrocytes

Our objective for this study was to determine the relationship between regional variations in myelin water imaging (MWI) and gene expression – a “MWI transcriptome”. Regional variations in myelin water fraction (MWF) from a normative MWF atlas were examined in a correlation analysis with gene expression data retrieved from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Genes that significantly covaried with MWF were involved in lipid metabolism and binding, and were enriched for myelin terms (e.g., oligodendrocytes). This preliminary work highlights the utility of an imaging transcriptomic approach and further supports MWI as a robust in vivo measure of myelin.