Volumetric measurement of the hippocampus, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the retrosplenial granular cortex of the rat using structural MRI.

MRI imaging of the rodent brain is a rapidly growing field in the neurosciences. Relatively limited information is available for regional volume determination. The present paper describes a reliable method for the assessment of the hippocampus, the anterior cingulate cortex, the retrosplenial granular cortex and the ventricles in rats. MRI scans were acquired using a 7 T magnet. The anatomical sampling method was found to be highly reliable with an intra-rater reliability of greater than 0.93. The current protocol should facilitate future in vivo neuroimaging research using animal models of neurodegenerative diseases.