Rodents including rats and mice are important models to study obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome in a preclinical setting. Translational and longitudinal imaging of these rodents permit investigation of metabolic diseases and identification of imaging biomarkers suitable for clinical translation. Here we describe the imaging protocols for achieving quantitative abdominal imaging in small animals followed by segmentation and quantification of fat volumes.
Keywords: Abdomen; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Mice; Obesity; Quantification; Rats; Segmentation; Subcutaneous fat; Visceral fat.