The goal of this protocol is to obtain high-quality diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) of the rat spinal cord for noninvasive characterization of tissue microstructure. This protocol describes optimizations of the MRI sequence, radiofrequency coil, and analysis methods to enable DWI images free from artifacts.
Zakszewski, E., Schmit, B., Kurpad, S., Budde, M. D. Diffusion Imaging in the Rat Cervical Spinal Cord. J. Vis. Exp. (98), e52390, doi:10.3791/52390 (2015).