Hoyt Kenneth, Warram Jason M, Wang Dezhi, Ratnayaka Sithira, Traylor Amie, Agarwal Anupam
Department of Radiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Mol Imaging Biol. 2015 Dec;17(6):786-92. doi: 10.1007/s11307-015-0860-6.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of molecular ultrasound (US) imaging for monitoring the early inflammatory effects following acute kidney injury.
A population of rats underwent 30 min of renal ischemia (acute kidney injury, N = 6) or sham injury (N = 4) using established surgical methods. Animals were divided and molecular US imaging was performed during the bolus injection of a targeted microbubble (MB) contrast agent to either P-selectin or vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1). Imaging was performed before surgery and 4 and 24 h thereafter. After manual segmentation of renal tissue space, the molecular US signal was calculated as the difference between time-intensity curve data before MB injection and after reaching steady-state US image enhancement. All animals were terminated after the 24 h imaging time point and kidneys excised for immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis.
Renal inflammation was analyzed using molecular US imaging. While results using the P-selectin and VCAM-1 targeted MBs were comparable, it appears that the former was more sensitive to biomarker expression. All molecular US imaging measures had a positive correlation with IHC findings.
Acute kidney injury is a serious disease in need of improved noninvasive methods to help diagnose the extent of injury and monitor the tissue throughout disease progression. Molecular US imaging appears well suited to address this challenge and more research is warranted.
本研究的目的是评估分子超声成像在监测急性肾损伤后早期炎症反应中的应用。
采用既定手术方法，对一组大鼠进行30分钟的肾脏缺血（急性肾损伤，N = 6）或假手术损伤（N = 4）。将动物分组，并在静脉注射靶向P-选择素或血管细胞黏附分子1（VCAM-1）的微泡（MB）造影剂时进行分子超声成像。在手术前以及术后4小时和24小时进行成像。在对肾组织空间进行手动分割后，分子超声信号计算为微泡注射前的时间强度曲线数据与达到稳态超声图像增强后的时间强度曲线数据之差。在24小时成像时间点后处死所有动物，切除肾脏进行免疫组织化学（IHC）分析。
使用分子超声成像分析肾脏炎症。虽然使用靶向P-选择素和VCAM-1的微泡的结果具有可比性，但前者似乎对生物标志物表达更敏感。所有分子超声成像测量结果与免疫组织化学结果均呈正相关。
急性肾损伤是一种严重疾病，需要改进的非侵入性方法来帮助诊断损伤程度并在疾病进展过程中监测组织。分子超声成像似乎非常适合应对这一挑战，值得进行更多研究。
