Within-subject test-retest reliability of the atlas-based cortical volume measurement in the rat brain: A voxel-based...

Various neurological and psychological disorders are related to cortical volume changes in specific brain regions, which can be measured in vivo using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI). There is an increasing interest in MRI studies using rat models, especially in longitudinal studies of brain disorders and pharmacologic interventions. However, morphometric changes observed in sMRI are only meaningful if the measurements are reliable. To date, a systematic evaluation of the test-retest reliability of the morphometric measures in the rat brain is still lacking.

We rigorously evaluated the test-retest reliability of morphometric measures derived from the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. 37 Sprague-Dawley rats were scanned twice at an interval of six hours and the gray matter volume was estimated using the VBM-DARTEL method. The intraclass coefficient, percent volume change and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to evaluate the reliability in 96 subregions of the rat brain.

Most subregions showed excellent test-retest reliabilities within an interval of 6 h while a few regions demonstrated lower reliability, especially in the retrosplenial granular cortex. The results were consistent between different methods of reliability assessment.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the test-retest reliability of the VBM measurements of the rat brain.

Atlas-based cortical volume of the rat brain can be reliably estimated using the VBM-DARTEL method in most subregions. However, findings in subregions with lower reliability must be interpreted with caution.