Yousefsani Zahra Sadat, Mirshahi Ali, Azizzadeh Mohammad, Khorasani Amir Nadimi
Private Veterinarian, Mashhad, Iran.
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
Vet Med Sci. 2025 Jul;11(4):e70455. doi: 10.1002/vms3.70455.
Ultrasonography is a preferred diagnostic tool for renal disease in clinical practice. Kidney size is a commonly used morphological parameter in renal assessment; however, it lacks sensitivity for early disease detection. Cortical parameters, particularly cortical thickness, correlate more strongly with early renal disease, as the cortex plays a key role in filtration and is highly vulnerable to injury. Rabbits, widely kept as pets, have distinct renal anatomy and are prone to kidney diseases, making them a relevant model for renal studies. Previous studies have shown that ultrasonography can effectively measure kidney size in rabbits, correlating with body weight.
This study aimed to establish a normative ratio of renal cortical thickness to the internal diameter of the abdominal aorta in healthy rabbits.
Sixty healthy adult male mixed-breed rabbits underwent ultrasonographic evaluation. Renal cortical thickness and abdominal aortic diameter were measured, ensuring that only rabbits without clinical or ultrasonographic signs of kidney disease were included.
Pearson correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between renal cortical thickness, aortic diameter and body weight. However, the ratio of renal cortical thickness to aortic diameter remained independent of body weight.
This study established a normative reference range for renal cortical thickness relative to aortic diameter in rabbits, providing a novel diagnostic parameter for renal assessment. The confidence intervals for the ratio were 0.82 (0.77-0.87) to 1.35 (1.30-1.40) for the left kidney and 0.79 (0.74-0.84) to 1.33 (1.27-1.38) for the right kidney, marking the first report of this method in the literature.
超声检查是临床实践中诊断肾脏疾病的首选工具。肾脏大小是肾脏评估中常用的形态学参数；然而，它对疾病早期检测缺乏敏感性。皮质参数，特别是皮质厚度，与早期肾脏疾病的相关性更强，因为皮质在滤过过程中起关键作用，且极易受到损伤。兔子作为广泛饲养的宠物，具有独特的肾脏解剖结构，且易患肾脏疾病，使其成为肾脏研究的相关模型。先前的研究表明，超声检查可有效测量兔子的肾脏大小，且与体重相关。
本研究旨在建立健康兔子肾皮质厚度与腹主动脉内径的正常比值。
对60只健康成年雄性杂种兔进行超声评估。测量肾皮质厚度和腹主动脉直径，确保仅纳入无肾脏疾病临床或超声体征的兔子。
Pearson相关分析显示肾皮质厚度、主动脉直径与体重之间呈正相关。然而，肾皮质厚度与主动脉直径的比值与体重无关。
本研究建立了兔子肾皮质厚度相对于主动脉直径的正常参考范围，为肾脏评估提供了一个新的诊断参数。该比值的置信区间为左肾0.82（0.77 - 0.87）至1.35（1.30 - 1.40）以及右肾0.79（0.74 - 0.84）至1.33（1.27 - 1.38），这是该方法在文献中的首次报道。
