A method for the non-invasive imaging of an anatomic tissue structure in isolation from surrounding tissues, including: receiving from an input device magnetic imaging data from a patient of the anatomic tissue structure and surrounding tissues; segmenting the imaging data to isolate the anatomic tissue structure imaging data from the imaging data for the surrounding tissues; separating the anatomic tissue structure imaging data into data populations corresponding to tissue microstructures; constructing an image from the imaging data for at least one of the tissue microstructures; and storing or displaying the image. An apparatus embodying the disclosed method is also described, as well as a method for the quantitative measurement of a nerve tissue suspected of demyelination.