31P nuclear magnetic resonance study of renal allograft rejection in the rat.

Phosphorus (31P) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was used to serially evaluate heterotopic renal allograft rejection in the rat. Renal allografts transplanted to the groin of recipient animals were studied using a 1.89 Tesla horizontal bore magnet. The relative intracellular concentrations of phosphorus metabolites such as adenosine triphosphate and inorganic phosphate as well as intracellular pH were determined by 31P NMR on days 4, 7, 10, and 14 following transplantation across a major histocompatibility mismatch. Recipient rats chosen to be rejectors received no immunosuppression while animals chosen to be nonrejectors received cyclosporine during the first 7 days following transplantation. By day 7, all rejector rats could be distinguished from nonrejector rats by their higher relative concentration of inorganic phosphate and their lower relative concentration of adenosine triphosphate. These NMR findings correlated with histologic findings of renal infarction probably related to vascular rejection in the allografts. 31P NMR spectroscopy may have application as a noninvasive tool in the differential diagnosis of posttransplantation renal insufficiency.