Quantitative characterization of glomerular fibrosis with magnetic resonance imaging: a feasibility study in a rat glomerulonephritis model

Glomerular fibrosis occurs in the early stages of multiple renal diseases, including hypertensive and diabetic nephropathy. Conventional assessment of glomerular fibrosis relies on kidney biopsy, which is invasive and does not reflect physiological aspects such as blood perfusion. In this study, we sought to assess potential changes of cortical perfusion and microstructure at different degrees of glomerular fibrosis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A rat model of glomerular fibrosis was induced by injecting anti-Thy-1 monoclonal antibody OX-7 to promote mesangial extracellular matrix proliferation. For six rats on day 5 and five rats on day 12 after the induction, we measured renal cortical perfusion and spin-spin relaxation time (T-2) in a 3-Tesla MRI scanner. T-2 reflects tissue microstructural changes. Glomerular fibrosis severity was evaluated by histological analysis and proteinuria. Four rats without fibrosis were included as controls. In the control rats, the periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive area was 22 +/- 1% of total glomerular tuft, which increased significantly to 56 +/- 12% and 45 +/- 10% in the day 5 and day 12 fibrotic groups, respectively (P < 0.01). For the three groups (control, day 5, and day 12 after OX-7 injection), cortical perfusion was 7.27 +/- 2.54, 3.78 +/- 2.17, and 3.32 +/- 2.62 ml.min(-1).g(-1), respectively, decreasing with fibrosis severity (P < 0.01), and cortical T-2 was 75.2 +/- 4.6, 84.1 +/- 3.0, and 87.9 +/- 5.6 ms, respectively (P < 0.01). In conclusion, extracellular matrix proliferation in glomerular mesangial cells severely diminished blood flow through the glomeruli and also altered cortical microstructure to increase cortical T-2. The MRI-measured parameters are proven to be sensitive markers for characterizing glomerular fibrosis.