Abstract
Purpose
Renal function can be quantified by both laboratory and scintigraphic methods. In the case of small animal diagnostics, scintigraphic image-based methods are ideal since they can assess split renal function, work noninvasively, and can be repeated. The aim of this study is to validate a 18F-PET-based method to quantify renal function in rats.
Materials and methods
Fluoride clearance was calculated from a dynamic whole body listmode acquisition of 60 min length in a small animal PET scanner following an i.v. injection of 15 MBq 18F-fluoride. Volumes of interest (VOIs) were placed in the left ventricle and the bladder as well as traced around the kidney contours. The respective time–activity curves (TAC) were calculated. The renal 18F-clearance was calculated by the ratio of the total renal excreted activity (bladder VOI) and the integral of the blood TAC. PET-derived renal function was validated by intraindividual measurements of creatinine clearance (n = 23), urea clearance (n = 23), and tubular excretion rate (TER-MAG3). The split renal function was derived from the injection of the clinically available radionuclide 99mTc-mercaptotriglycine by blood sampling and planar renography (n = 8).
Results
In all animals studied, PET revealed high-quality TACs. PET-derived renal fluoride clearance was linearly correlated with intraindividual laboratory measures (PET vs. creatinine: r = 0.78; PET vs. urea: r = 0.73; PET vs. TER-MAG3: r = 0.73). Split function was comparable (18F-PET vs. MAG3-renography: r = 0.98). PET-derived measures were highly reproducible.
Conclusions
18F-PET is able to noninvasively assess renal function in rats and provides a significant potential for serial studies in different experimental scenarios.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Marilyn Law, Anne Kanzog, and Christine Bätza for excellent support, to Daniel Burkert and Sven Fatum for producing 18F-fluoride, and to Liam Bergin for language editing of the manuscript. The study was supported in part by the Interdisciplinary Centre of Clinical Research IZKF Münster (ZPG 4b), the Innovative Medizinische Forschung (IMF) Münster and the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Foundation (P22/05//A43/05//F00).
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Uta Schnöckel and Stefan Reuter contributed equally to this study.
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Schnöckel, U., Reuter, S., Stegger, L. et al. Dynamic 18F-fluoride small animal PET to noninvasively assess renal function in rats. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 35, 2267–2274 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0878-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-008-0878-y