Background
So far, an overall view of olfactory structures activated by natural biologically relevant odors in the awake rat is not available. Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) is appropriate for this
Significance
By providing an overall image of brain structures activated in awake rats by odorous stimulation, and by showing that Mn enhancement is differently sensitive to different stimulating odors, the present results demonstrate the interest of MEMRI for functional studies of olfaction in the primary olfactory cortex of laboratory small animals, under conditions close to natural perception. Finally, the factors that may cause the variability of the MEMRI signal in response to different odor are discussed.