Neuronal fiber--tracking via optimal mass transportation

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to (non-invasively) study neuronal fibers in the brain white matter. Reconstructing fiber paths from such data (tractography problem) is relevant in particular to study the connectivity between two given cerebral regions. By considering the fiber paths between two given areas as geodesics of a suitable well-posed optimal control problem (related to optimal mass transportation) which takes into account the whole information given by the DDF, we are able to provide a quantitative criterion to estimate the connectivity between two given cerebral regions, and to recover the actual distribution of neuronal fibers between them.