Measurement of brain volume using MRI

General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Summary-Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) permits in vivo quantification of brain compartment volume, and has many applications in cognitive, clinical and comparative neuroscience. There are numerous approaches for obtaining a brain volume estimate from MRI, and the primary focus of this paper is to provide an overview of the methods available to estimate the volume of three brain structures that are of particular interest in the neurosciences: the cerebral hemispheres, hippocampus and Broca's area. We provide information on choice of computer software, hardware compatibility, required user expertise, the application of manual and automated MR image analysis techniques, and anatomical guidelines, providing the reader with enough information to decide on their approach at the outset of a quantitative MRI study. We advocate the use of stereology in conjunction with point counting for an unbiased and time efficient estimate of brain compartment volume.