Scott Charles Beeman1, Megan Henriksen1,
David Frakes1, Kevin M. Bennett1
1Bioengineering,
We
present a method for counting number of renal glomeruli using MRI. Rats were given intravenous injections of
CF followed by resection of kidneys.
Ex vivo Imaging revealed spots of hypointensity throughout the cortex
of the kidney due to accumulation of CF in the glomerular basement membrane,
consistent with individual glomeruli.
Thresholding techniques applied to the image volumes yielded a
glomerular count of 43,362 glomeruli.
This is in agreement with and lies within 10% of a histological count
of 39,514 glomeruli in the contralateral kidney, indicating an accurate
glomerular count of the whole kidney.