Abstract
Prior neuroimaging studies of the relationship between the kidney and the brain have been limited to clinical populations and have largely relied on a single modality. We sought to examine the kidney-brain associations in healthy subjects using a combined analysis of multi-modal imaging data. Structural, diffusion, and perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were performed to measure cortical thickness, white matter integrity, and cerebral blood flow in 157 healthy young adults. Peripheral venous blood samples were collected to measure serum renal function indexes. Correlation analyses were performed to investigate the relations between brain MRI measures and renal function indexes. Results showed that higher serum uric acid level was associated with increased cortical thickness in the transverse temporal gyrus. We also found that decreased serum creatinine level was linked to lower white matter integrity in the sagittal stratum, anterior corona radiata, superior corona radiata, and external capsule. Furthermore, we observed that increased serum uric acid level was related to hyperperfusion in the opercular and triangular parts of inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus, and hypoperfusion in the calcarine sulcus, cuneus and lingual gyrus. More importantly, mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between serum uric acid and working memory performance was mediated by perfusion in the supramarginal gyrus and lingual gyrus. These findings not only may extend current knowledge regarding the relationship between the kidney and the brain, but also may inform real-world clinical practice by identification of potential brain regions vulnerable to renal dysfunction.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
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The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Numbers: 81801679, 82071905 and 81771817).
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SL, CW, JZ and YY conceptualized and designed the study. SL was responsible for conducting the analyses, preparing the first draft of the manuscript, and preparing the manuscript for submission. Jiajia Zhu was responsible for obtaining funding for the study, supervising the analyses, and editing drafts of the manuscript. SL, CW, YY, HC, MZ, LS, SZ, YX were responsible for data collection and initial data preprocessing. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.
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Liu, S., Wang, C., Yang, Y. et al. Brain structure and perfusion in relation to serum renal function indexes in healthy young adults. Brain Imaging and Behavior 16, 1014–1025 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00565-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00565-x