SYSTEM, METHOD AND COMPUTER-ACCESSIBLE MEDIUM FOR NEUROMELANIN-SENSITIVE MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING AS A NON-INVASIVE PROXY MEASURE OF DOPAMINE FUNCTION IN THE HUMAN BRAIN

摘要

An exemplary system, method and computer-accessible medium for determining a dopamine function of a patient(s) can include, for example, receiving imaging information of a brain of the patient(s), determining a Neuromelanin (NM) concentration of the patient(s) based on the imaging information, and determining the dopamine function based on the NM concentration. The NM concentration can be determined using a voxel-wise analysis procedure. The voxel-wise analysis procedure can be used to determine a topographical pattern(s) within a substantia nigra (SN) of the brain of the patient(s). The topographical pattern(s) can include a pattern(s) of cell loss in the SN. The NM concentration can be based on a NM loss in the brain of the patient(s).