White matter dissection refers to a special anatomical technique able to reveal the subcortical organization of white matter fibers in the human or animal cadaver brain. The first studies of cerebral

white matter White matter refers to areas of the central nervous system that are mainly made up of myelinated axons, also called Nerve tract, tracts. Long thought to be passive tissue, white matter affects learning and brain functions, modulating the distr ...

(WM) were described by

Galen Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (; September 129 – AD), often Anglicization, anglicized as Galen () or Galen of Pergamon, was a Ancient Rome, Roman and Greeks, Greek physician, surgeon, and Philosophy, philosopher. Considered to be one o ...

and by the subsequent efforts of

Vesalius Andries van Wezel (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564), Latinization of names, latinized as Andreas Vesalius (), was an anatomist and physician who wrote ''De humani corporis fabrica, De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem'' (''On the fabric ...

on human cadaver specimens.Clarke E, O’Malley CD. 1968. The Human Brain and Spinal Cord, A Historical Study Illustrated By Writings from Antiquity To The Twentieth Century. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. The interest for the deep anatomy of the brain pushed anatomist during centuries to create and develop different techniques for specimen preparation and dissection in order to better reveal the complex white matter architectural organization. However, the biggest impact on the dissection of white matter anatomy was made by Joseph Klingler who developed a new method for specimens preparation and dissection. This technique became more feasible and widely used due to an increased quality of dissection and surprising quality of anatomical details.Ludwig E, Klinger J. 1956. Atlas Cerebri Humani. Basel: S. Karger. Klingler developed a new method of brain fixation, by freezing already formalin-fixed brains before dissection. First, the water crystallization induced by freezing disrupts the structure of the grey matter (which has a high water content). This process made possible to peel off the cortex from the brain surface without damaging the subcortical white matter organization underneath. Second, the freezing process along the WM fibers, induced a clear separation between them facilitating the dissection by progressive peeling of the fibers. White matter fibre dissection is nowadays considered as a valuable tool to enhance our knowledge about brain connectivity, and has been used to validate tractographic results and vice versa with good consistency between the two techniques, but also for neurosurgical training and neuroanatomical teaching.

References

{{reflist Neuroscience Neurosurgery