OBJECTIVE To investigate the implanting method of rabbit liver VX-2 tumor and its MR diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) characteristics. METHODS Thirty-five New Zealand rabbits were included in the study. VX-2 tumor was implanted subcutaneously in 14 rabbits and intrahepatically in 6 for pre-experiments. VX-2 tumor was implanted intrahepatically in 12 rabbits for experiment and three were used as the control group. DWI, T1- and T2-weighted of MRI were performed periodically in 15 rabbits for experiment before and after implantation. The distinction of VX-2 tumors on DWI was assessed by their apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. The statistical significance was calculated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the randomized block design using SPSS10.0 software. RESULTS The successful rate of subcutaneous implantation of VX-2 tumor was 29% (4/14) while that of intrahepatic implantation of it was 33% (2/6) in the pre-experiment. The successful rate of intrahepatic implantation of VX-2 tumor in the experiment was 83% (10/12) and 15 tumors grew in 10 successfully implanted rabbits. The DWI signal of VX-2 tumor was high and became lower when the b value increased step by step. The signal of VX-2 tumor on the map of ADC was low. When the b value was 100 or 300 s/mm2, the ADC value of normal group and VX-2 tumor group was respectively 2.57+/-0.26, 1.73+/-0.31, 1.87+/-0.25 and 1.57+/-0.23 mm2/s. Their distinction was significant (F = 43.26, P<0.01), the tumor ADC value between b values 100 and 300 s/mm2 was significant (Tukey HSP, P<0.05) and the ADC value between VX-2 tumor and normal liver was also significant (Tukey HSP, P<0.01). VX-2 tumor developed quickly and metastasized early to all body, especially to the lung, liver, lymph nodes of mediastinum, etc. CONCLUSIONS The DWI signal of rabbit VX-2 tumor has its characteristics on MR DWI and DWI plays an important role in diagnosing and discovering VX-2 tumor.