Ronan Kelly1, Laurence O' Dwyer1, Eric O' Hanlon1, Colm Connolly1, Marina Lynch2, Christian Kerskens1
1Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; 2Department of Physiology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Voxel-based morphometry has proven to be a reliable tool in analysing between group volume concentration differences in the human brain. Here we describe a modulated application of this tool, that of studying volume changes in the rat brain. Skull-stripped MRI images were registered to a generic brain template image, the output of which was averaged to produce a study-specific template file. A variety of statistical tests was then carried out, thus creating statistical maps highlighting regions of significant decline with age. Among these regions were the primary and secondary visual cortices, and CA1 and CA2 fields of the hippocampus.