Use of contrast-enhanced ultrasound to monitor rabbit renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and correlations between time-intensity curve parameters and renal ICAM-1 expression

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is common in renal transplantation, shock, and nephrolithotomy. OBJECTIVE: To quantitatively assess rabbit renal IRI with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and investigate associations between renal cortical time-intensity curve (TIC) parameters and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression. METHODS: Eighteen white rabbits were randomly assigned into control and IRI groups (n = 9 each), and CEUS examination was performed 24 h after modeling. TIC parameters including arrival time (AT), time to peak intensity (TTP), changes in peak intensity, area under the curve (AUC), and slope of the ascending TIC, and correlations between these parameters and ICAM-1 expression were evaluated with linear correlation analyses. RESULTS: AT, TTP, and AUC were significantly increased in the IRI group (P < 0.05), and the slope of the ascending TIC was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). ICAM-1 content in the renal cortex was significantly increased in the IRI group (P < 0.05). In addition, the slope of the ascending TIC negatively correlated with renal ICAM-1 expression (r = −0.923, P < 0.01), whereas AT and TTP positively correlated with ICAM-1 expression (r = 0.697 and 0.892, both P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: TIC parameters including the slope of the ascending TIC, AT, and TTP closely correlated with ICAM-1 in the renal cortex, and it is considered that the TIC can be used to quantitatively monitoring renal cortex blood perfusion and CEUS can be used to indirectly evaluate the degree of inflammatory reaction associated with renal IRI. CEUS may be a useful non-invasive method to identify inflammation caused by renal IRI-associated diseases.

Assessment of Renal Transplant Perfusion by Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound after Switch from Calcineurin Inhibitor to Belatacept: A Pilot Study

“…Overall, cortical perfusion showed no statistically significant changes in time-related parameters observed during hypoxia. On the contrary, Li et al have demonstrated a significant increase in time-related parameters (arrival time, time-to-peak, AUC) in rabbits with ischemia–reperfusion injury as a result of impaired renal cortex blood perfusion [ 19 ].…”

Quantitative Analysis of Hepatic Microcirculation in Rabbits After Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound

“…The incidence of severe adverse reactions to CEUS is 0.0086%-0.012% (Kusnetzky et al 2008, Piscaglia andBolondi 2006). A report showed CEUS can help to monitor renal IRI in animal models (Li et al 2015). Moreover, CEUS can be applied to patients with renal dysfunction because the gas is metabolized by the respiratory system (Jakobsen et al 2005).…”

“…Further, study also confirmed CEUS can act as a non-invasive method to monitor liver IRI in rat models (Zhang et al 2016). Another study showed CEUS quantitative analysis can be applied to evaluate the development of renal IRI in rabbits (Li et al 2015). However, minimal data exist on the application of CEUS in hepatic microcirculation after liver IRI.…”

Characterization of a PRISTANE‐induced lupus‐associated model in the non‐human primate cynomolgus monkey

“…The TICs of the renal cortex in both groups were automatically plotted with wash‐in/wash‐out curve software. The TIC parameters included the following: (i) peak intensity (PI), reflecting blood flow changes in local tissues; (ii) time‐to‐peak intensity (TTP), defined as the time from the start of enhancement of the renal cortex to the time when contrast agent perfusion reached a peak; (iii) arrival time (AT); (iv) area under the curve (AUC), which exhibited a linear correlation with renal blood flow and reflected changes in blood flow volume in blood vessels; and (v) the slope of the ascending TIC (A), which is the slope rate of the descending curve (α) that demonstrated the mean perfusion speed after the presence of the contrast agent and reflected the local tissue perfusion rate …”