Mouse Brain Anatomy: Dorsal and Ventral Views

The mouse brain is organized into the olfactory bulbs at the front, the large cerebral cortex covering the cerebrum, the cerebellum at the back, and the brainstem (midbrain, pons, and medulla) that connects to the spinal cord. Deeper structures include the hippocampus, thalamus, and hypothalamus, which are shown on sectioned or ventral views.

The dorsal view is the top-down surface of the mouse brain. It shows the paired olfactory bulbs in front, the cerebral cortex of the two hemispheres separated by the midline, and the cerebellum at the rear. This view is the standard orientation for whole-brain figures and surface landmarks in neuroscience papers.

The ventral view is the underside of the mouse brain. It reveals the olfactory bulbs, the optic chiasm, the hypothalamus, the pons, the medulla, and the roots of the cranial nerves. The ventral surface is commonly used to label structures that are hidden on the dorsal view.

The mouse brain has the same major divisions as the human brain but is smooth (lissencephalic) rather than folded, with proportionally larger olfactory bulbs and a relatively smaller cerebral cortex. These differences matter when adapting human brain figures for rodent studies, which is why a dedicated mouse brain figure is useful.

You can generate a labeled mouse brain diagram on SciFig: describe the dorsal and ventral views and the structures you want labeled, and SciFig produces an editable figure. You can then rename regions, adjust labels, and export it for a paper, poster, or slide.

Yes. After generating the figure you can open it in SciFig's editor to vectorize it into clean SVG, relabel any brain region, recolor structures, and adjust the layout so the dorsal and ventral views match your manuscript before exporting in PNG, SVG, or PDF.