Dzne research team develops AI software for precise measurement of cerebrospinal fluid structures

Dzne research team develops AI software for precise measurement of cerebrospinal fluid structures

A research team at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) has started a new project to measure the structures in the central nervous system (ZNS), which are responsible for the formation of the liquor. The liquor, also known as "nerve water", is a liquid that circulates in the brain and spinal cord and fulfills important functions such as the supply of nutrients and the damping of bumps. In order to grasp these filigree brain structures more precisely, the research team plans the development of a method that is based on artificial intelligence (AI) and enables the plexus choroidal to automatically identify in brain scans.

The precise measurement of these brain structures could help develop a better understanding of disease processes and normal changes in the brain in the course of life. The project will fall back on three-dimensional brain data, which, among other things, come from the "Human Connectome Project" (HCP) of the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and were created with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The data of around 700 people should flow into the analysis.

The Dzne will work closely with American institutions, especially the "Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center" in Boston, to develop a software based on AI that is trained to recognize the Choroidi Plexus in MRI images. The project is supported by NIH with funding of around one million euros and aims to deepen the understanding of cerebrospinal fluid formation in the central nervous system.