title: 99mTc-MAG3 scintigraphy for the longitudinal follow-up of kidney function in a mouse model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Experimental models are essential tools in the development and evaluation of novel treatment options, but the preclinical model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury is limited to the retrieval of (very) early functional data, leaving the pivotal long-term outcome unknown. The present study applies technetium-99m-mercapto-acetyl-tri-glycine [99mTc-MAG3] scintigraphy for the longitudinal follow-up examination of long-term kidney function after renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Unilateral warm ischemia was induced in scid beige mice by vascular clamping of the kidney hilum for 40 min. 99mTc-MAG3 scintigraphy was performed prior to injury, 8 and 14 days post ischemia. The fractional uptake rate [FUR] was calculated from scintigraphy data as a measure of renal clearance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  FUR demonstrated a significant functional impairment of the ischemic kidney 8 and 14 days after injury (P < 0.05 vs. baseline), while contralateral non-ischemic kidneys showed no significant changes. In histological analysis, ischemic kidneys exhibited tubular dilatation and cytoplasmic degeneration as signs of hypoxia without any evidence for necrosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FUR enables the detection of renal dysfunction and longitudinal long-term follow-up examination in the same individual. Our model may facilitate preclinical therapy evaluation for the identification of effective renoprotective therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Munich, Munich, 81377, Germany. marcus.hacker@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Herrler
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tischer
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bartenstein
authors.forename: Karl-Walter
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Jauch
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guba
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diemling
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nimmon
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hacker