Evaluating renal function with intravoxel incoherent motion in a unilateral ureteral obstruction model

Abstract

Background: Patients with renal injury are at increased risk of exacerbating kidney damage from contrast-enhanced radiological examinations. Therefore, a noninvasive and sustainable method for assessing renal function without contrast agents is imperative. This study evaluates the effectiveness of intravoxel incoherent motion-derived parameters in assessing renal function, comparing them to findings from single-photon emission computed tomography in rat models.

Materials and methods: This study involved 2 groups of rats. The first group underwent scans and biopsies on days 0, 3, 7, 10, and 14 after obstruction, whereas the second group was subjected to unilateral ureteral obstruction on the same days. Rats in the second group were also scanned on days 7 and 14 after obstruction release, with histopathological analyses performed on day 14 after recanalization. Parameters measured included the apparent diffusion coefficient, pure molecular diffusion, pseudodiffusion, perfusion fraction, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using both intravoxel incoherent motion and single-photon emission computed tomography. Data from each time point were analyzed using 1-way analysis of variance for multiple groups, and Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationships between these parameters and GFR.

Results: Glomerular filtration rate showed positive correlations with apparent diffusion coefficient and pure molecular diffusion (p < 0.05). Additionally, cortical f demonstrated a significant positive correlation with GFR (r = 0.841, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Intravoxel incoherent motion effectively captures changes in GFR during renal obstruction and recanalization. Notably, cortical f proves to be a promising indicator for assessing GFR.

Keywords

Intravoxel incoherent motion / Magnetic resonance imaging / Single-photon emission computed tomography / Renal function

Acknowledgments

None.

Statement of ethics

This study was approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee of Jinan University (December 3, 2019/ethical review no. I ACUC-20191203-03). All the experimental protocols for animal studies were conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

Conflicts of interest statement

No conflict of interest has been declared by the authors.

Funding source

This project was supported by the Guangzhou Science and Technology Project (2023A03J0609), Guangdong Province general university youth innovative talent project (2021KQNCX004), Guangdong Medical Science and Technology Research Foundation (A2021498), and Scientific Research Program of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Traditional Chinese Medicine (20222039).

Author contributions

LZ, ZZ: Participated in the writing of the paper and data analysis;

WM, ZJ: Participated in the follow-up and data collection;

LZ, CS: Participated in data analysis and proofreading;

LZ, CL: Participated in the performance of the research;

XM: Participated in research design and approved the final version to be submitted.

All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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