Researchers Release Sex-Balanced Longitudinal Brain Imaging Dataset in Developing Rats
Researchers have released a longitudinal resting-state fMRI dataset from 36 Wistar rats (18 female) scanned across five time points from pre-puberty to early adulthood. The dataset includes structural and functional MRI, body weight measurements, puberty onset timing, and daily estrous cycle tracking. It addresses a recognized gap in preclinical neuroscience for sex-balanced developmental data spanning the pubertal transition.
A team of researchers has made publicly available a preclinical neuroimaging dataset designed to support the study of brain development across puberty in both male and female rats. Thirty-six Wistar rats, equally split by sex, were scanned at approximately postnatal days 28, 35, 49, 70, and 91, covering the juvenile period through early adulthood. Each session used a standardized consensus protocol for animal sedation and MRI acquisition, capturing both structural MRI and resting-state (task-free) functional MRI. Supplementary biological data—including daily body weight, puberty onset day, and cytological smear images for estrous cycle monitoring—are also included. The dataset is openly available and specifically designed to enable longitudinal analyses of functional brain development. It directly responds to growing calls in biomedical research to treat Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV), a principle that has historically been underrepresented in preclinical imaging studies. Researchers can use this resource to investigate how brain functional connectivity changes across development and whether those trajectories differ between sexes.
What's missing
It is unclear whether the dataset has undergone peer review, as this is a bioRxiv preprint. Open questions include whether the sample size (18 per sex) is sufficient to detect sex differences in developmental trajectories with adequate statistical power, and how generalizable findings from Wistar rats will be to other rodent strains or to human neurodevelopment.
What different sources said
- bioRxivCenter
A sex-balanced longitudinal developmental task-free fMRI rat dataset.
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