Magnetic resonance imaging has been used to follow the time course of lesions induced in the rat brain as an animal model for characterization of the volume of the lesion. The dispersion in spin-spin relaxation has been used to characterize the nature of the brain lesion. Parameter selective estimation of T2, quantitative determination of the lesion size and volume selective in vivo proton spectroscopy have been employed for the purpose. The work has been carried out on rats which were subject to lesioning by ibotenic acid as a model for excitotoxicity and also on rats which received doses of ibotenic acid and subsequent doses of the NMDA antagonist drug MK 801 (dizocilpine). The time course of the progress of the lesions in untreated animals and the effect of neuroprotection by MK 801 was continuously monitored in all test animals. Further, a relatively new inhalation anesthetic agent, isoflurane, has been employed. A more logical and semiquantitative T2 bandwidth demarkation useful in distinguishing different degrees of lesioning from the onset and up to the 'edema' stage through penumbra (mild lesion), medium degree lesion and severe lesion has been proposed.