Separable multidimensional MRI signatures of cellular and structural pathology in Alzheimer’s disease

Cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) reflects progressive disruption of cellular and microstructural organization, yet the biological specificity of MRI signals remains incompletely understood. Multidimensional diffusion–relaxation MRI (MD-MRI) resolves sub-voxel tissue heterogeneity, offering a potential framework to link imaging signals to underlying pathology. We tested the hypothesis that neuronal, glial and white matter pathologies in AD occupy separable regions of diffusion–relaxation space and generate spatially organized imaging signatures linked to cognitive impairment.

We integrated ex vivo MD-MRI with co-registered histology from 12 human donors spanning a range of Braak stages and pathological severity. Using nested cross-validated elastic net modeling, we predicted voxelwise Aβ, pTau, microglia and myelin burden from the multidimensional diffusion–relaxation density distribution. Regional associations were assessed across hippocampal subfields and white matter, and clinical relevance was evaluated by relating MRI-predicted pathology to Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores.

Distinct diffusion–relaxation components were preferentially associated with different pathological markers, indicating separable microstructural signatures. Voxelwise MRI-derived predictions were significantly associated with histological measures of myelin (ρ = 0.77), pTau (ρ = 0.62), and microglia (ρ = 0.61), with weaker correspondence for Aβ (ρ = 0.45). Regionally, predicted pathology recapitulated known patterns of selective vulnerability, with elevated pTau and microglial signal in hippocampal subfields and dominant myelin-associated signal in white matter (p < 0.0001). Importantly, higher predicted pTau density in the hippocampus was strongly associated with worse cognitive performance (ρ = −0.88, p = 0.0014), with a moderate association in white matter (ρ = −0.66, p = 0.036), suggesting that tau-related microstructural alterations within both gray and white matter contribute to cognitive impairment.

By directly linking multidimensional MRI signatures to histologically verified cellular pathology, this study demonstrates that AD-related processes manifest as distinct and spatially organized diffusion–relaxation signatures. These findings provide mechanistic insight into the microstructural basis of MRI contrasts and support the potential of MD-MRI to map regionally specific neuropathological processes in AD. As clinically feasible MD-MRI acquisition protocols continue to emerge, translation of these spectral signatures to in vivo imaging may enable more mechanistically informed assessment of aging and dementia.