Preliminary Feasibility Study on Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging to Monitor the Early Functional Alterations of Kidneys in Streptozocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Zhong-Yuan Cheng; Ping-Kang Chen; You-Zhen Feng; Xiao-Qiao Chen; Long Qian; Xiang-Ran Cai

doi:10.1016/j.acra.2022.09.016

Preliminary Feasibility Study on Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging to Monitor the Early Functional Alterations of Kidneys in Streptozocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Acad Radiol. 2023 Aug;30(8):1544-1551. doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2022.09.016. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

Authors

Zhong-Yuan Cheng¹, Ping-Kang Chen¹, You-Zhen Feng¹, Xiao-Qiao Chen², Long Qian³, Xiang-Ran Cai⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical Imaging Center, Jinan University First Affiliated Hospital, No.613 West Huangpu Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China.
² Radiology Department, Shenzhen Mental Health Center, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁴ Medical Imaging Center, Jinan University First Affiliated Hospital, No.613 West Huangpu Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China. Electronic address: caixran@jnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36244869
DOI: 10.1016/j.acra.2022.09.016

Abstract

Rationale and objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) to assess the early renal functional undulation of diabetic mellitus (DM).

Materials and methods: Fifty-seven Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups and eventually 48 rats were included in this study: the normal control (CON) group and diabetic mellitus (DM) group. Weeks 0, 4, 8, and 12 after the diabetes model was successfully established, all the rats were scanned on the 3.0T MRI. The DKI derived parameters of renal parenchyma, including fractional anisotropy (FA_co, FA_me), mean diffusivity (MD_co, MD_me), and mean kurtosis (MK_co, MK_me) were measured. Their alteration over time was analyzed and then correlated with urine volume (UV), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), and serum creatinine (Scr) using Pearson correlation analysis. Finally, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed on the kidneys of the two groups.

Result: There was a decreasing trend in FA, MK, and MD values over time in diabetic rats. Also, the gradually worsening histological damage of kidneys was noted over time in diabetic rats. The cortical FA and MK values and medullary FA, MK and MD values of diabetic rats were significantly lower than those of controls at most time points after DM induction. In addition, negative correlations were revealed between the BUN and FA_co (r = -0.43, p = 0.03) or FA_me value (r = -0.49, p = 0.01). The cortical MK value was moderately correlated with UV (r = -0.46, p = 0.03) and BUN (r = -0.55, p = 0.01).

Conclusion: The preliminary findings suggest that DKI might be an effective and sensitive tool to assess the early changes of renal function impairment in diabetic rats. The FA values of the cortex and medulla and the MK value of the cortex are sensitive markers in detecting renal injury in diabetic rats.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic nephropathy; Diffusional kurtosis imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Rat; Renal injury.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental* / diagnostic imaging
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Feasibility Studies
Kidney / diagnostic imaging
Kidney / physiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Streptozocin

Substances

Streptozocin