Diffusion tractography of kidney by high angular resolution diffusion imaging  

作　　者：Surendra Maharjan Jie Chen Adrienne Gaughan Neal XChen Nian Wang 

机构地区：[1]Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences,Indiana University,Indianapolis,IN 46202,USA [2]Division of Clinical Transitional Research Institute,Indianapolis,IN 46202,USA [3]Division of Nephrology,Department of Medicine,Indiana University,Indianapolis,IN 46202,USA [4]Stark Neurosciences Research Institute,Indiana University,Indianapolis,IN 46202,USA [5]Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health,Indiana University,Indianapolis,IN 46202,USA

出　　处：《Magnetic Resonance Letters》2024年第4期25-33,共9页磁共振快报（英文）

基　　金：supported through P41 EB015897(GAJ);supported by NIH R01NS125020;Indiana Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases Pilot and Feasibility Grant;Strategic Research Initiative(SRI)IUH;Indiana University School of Medicine。

摘　　要：Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) has been utilized to probe the renal microstructures but investigating the three-dimensional(3D) tubular network still presents significant challenges due to the complicated architecture of kidney. This study aims to assess whether high angular resolution diffusion imaging(HARDI) could improve the reconstruction of 3D tubular architectures. Kidneys from both mice and rats were imaged using 3D diffusion-weighted pulse sequences at 9.4 T. Five healthy mouse kidneys were scanned at an isotropic spatial resolution of 40 μm, with a b value of 1500 s/mm2across 46 diffusion encoding directions. The study employed diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) and generalized Q-sampling imaging(GQI) to examine the tubular orientation distributions and tractography, validated by conventional histology. Fractional anisotropy(FA) and mean diffusivity(MD) were quantified and compared among the inner medullar(IM), outer medullar(OM), and cortex(CO) at different angular resolutions. FA values, estimated with 6 diffusion-weighted images(DWIs), were significantly overestimated by 49.9%(p < 0.001) in IM, 179.4%(p < 0.001) in OM, and 225.5%(p < 0.001) in CO, compared to using 46 DWIs. In contrast, MD exhibited less variations to angular resolution variations(3.4% in IM, 4.2% in OM, and 4.6% in CO). Both DTI and GQI at high angular resolution successfully traced renal tubular structures throughout the kidney, with GQI demonstrating superior performance in generating more continuous tracts. Furthermore, disrupted renal tubule structures were observed in a chronic kidney disease(CKD) rat model. HARDI, especially when combined with the GQI approach, holds promise in tracking complicated 3D tubule architectures and may serve as a potent tool for kidney disease research.

关 键 词：DTI KIDNEY TRACTOGRAPHY HARDI MRI GQI CKD 

分 类 号：R445.2[医药卫生—影像医学与核医学] TP391.41[医药卫生—诊断学]