Malignant behaviors of brain gliomas include proliferation and infiltration.It remains unclear which behavior influences the status of adjacent corticospinal tracts.Diffusion tensor imaging can show the status of brain white matter fiber tracts.Ki-67 and CD44/matrix metalloproteinase 9 are sensitive markers for reflecting the proliferation and infiltration of tumor cells.The present study analyzed pre-operative diffusion tensor images of 24 patients with pathologically confirmed World Health Organization glioma(Ⅰ-Ⅳ).We observed lapse,infiltration and destruction of the peri-tumor corticospinal tract following reconstruction,and simultaneously detected the expression of Ki-67,CD44/matrix metalloproteinase 9 in samples.Expression of CD44 and matrix metalloproteinase 9was not significantly correlated to the status of the peri-tumor corticospinal tract(r = 1.597,4.859;P = 0.450,0.088),while Ki-67 expression significantly correlated to its status(r= 6.590,P = 0.037).These findings demonstrate that highly proliferative gliomas result in damage to the peripheral corticospinal tract.