Journal
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
Volume 10, Issue 19, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/jcm10194318
Keywords
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); T2 mapping; T1 mapping; diffusion-weighted imaging; apparent diffusion coefficient; kidney transplantation; rejection; inflammation; fibrosis
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Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) [HU 2232/1-1, GU 613/1-1]
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This study demonstrated that multiparametric MRI can non-invasively assess chronic renal allograft rejection in a mouse model. Changes in T1 time, ADC values, and tissue heterogeneity were associated with chronic rejection, as confirmed by histological analysis.
We hypothesized that multiparametric MRI is able to non-invasively assess, characterize and monitor renal allograft pathology in a translational mouse model of chronic allograft rejection. Chronic rejection was induced by allogenic kidney transplantation (ktx) of BALB/c-kidneys into C57BL/6-mice (n = 23). Animals after isogenic ktx (n = 18) and non-transplanted healthy animals (n = 22) served as controls. MRI sequences (7T) were acquired 3 and 6 weeks after ktx and quantitative T1, T2 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were calculated. In addition, in a subset of animals, histological changes after ktx were evaluated. Chronic rejection was associated with a significant prolongation of T1 time compared to isogenic ktx 3 (1965 +/- 53 vs. 1457 +/- 52 ms, p < 0.001) and 6 weeks after surgery (1899 +/- 79 vs. 1393 +/- 51 ms, p < 0.001). While mean T2 times and ADC were not significantly different between allogenic and isogenic kidney grafts, histogram-based analysis of ADC revealed significantly increased tissue heterogeneity in allografts at both time points (standard derivation/entropy/interquartile range, p < 0.05). Correspondingly, histological analysis showed severe inflammation, graft fibrosis and tissue heterogeneity in allogenic but not in isogenic kidney grafts. In conclusion, renal diffusion weighted imaging and mapping of T2 and T1 relaxation times enable detection of chronic renal allograft rejection in mice. The combined quantitative assessment of mean values and histograms provides non-invasive information of chronic changes in renal grafts and allows longitudinal monitoring.
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