Fig. 3

Mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy in the brain of control and GBM rats under fed or fasted conditions 24 h after Mn²⁺ administration. A, B Representative parametric maps of mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of a control and a tumor-bearing rat, under fed and fasted conditions, respectively. The ROIs (cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus) are outlined in the maps. C, D Boxplots of the MD and FA values, respectively, from the different regions investigated (cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus and thalamus) in control cohort and tumor-bearing rats under fed and fasted conditions. Box plots are represented as indicated in Fig. 1. Outliers are plotted individually using the '•' symbol. (* p-value < 0.05, ** p-value < 0.01)