Abstract
PURPOSE: The number of glomeruli is different in men and women, as they also present different prevalence and progression of chronic kidney disease. A recent study has demonstrated a potential difference in renal metabolism between sexes, and a potential explanation could be the differences in glomeruli number. This study investigates the potential correlation between glomerular number and pyruvate metabolism in healthy kidneys.
METHODS: This study is an experimental study with rats (N = 12). We used cationized-ferritin MRI to visualize and count glomeruli and hyperpolarized [1-13 C]pyruvate to map the metabolism. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI was used to analyze kidney hemodynamics using gadolinium tracer.
RESULTS: Data showed no or subtle correlation between the number of glomeruli and the pyruvate metabolism. Minor differences were observed in the number of glomeruli (female = 24,509 vs. male = 26 350; p = .16), renal plasma flow (female = 606.6 vs. male= 455.7 ml/min/100 g; p = .18), and volume of distribution (female = 87.44 vs. male = 76.61 ml/100 ml; p = .54) between sexes. Mean transit time was significantly prolonged in males compared with females (female = 8.868 s vs. male = 10.63 s; p = .04).
CONCLUSION: No strong statistically correlation between the number of glomeruli and the pyruvate metabolism was found in healthy rat kidneys.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
| Volume | 87 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 896-903 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 0740-3194 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2022 |
Keywords
- MRI
- hyperpolarization
- renal
- sex