David H. Frakes1, Arius Elvikis2, Jonathan Plasencia1, Scott Beeman1, Kevin M. Bennett1
1Harrington Department of Bioengineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, Az, USA; 2Partnership for Research in Spatial modeling, Arizona State University, Tempe, Az, USA
Cationic iron oxide nanoparticles bind with high specificity to anionic glycosaminoglycans in renal glomerular. The accumulation of these nanoparticles is detectable with MRI, giving images of agent uptake by individual glomeruli. In this work, we developed a technique to quantify the number of glomeruli in a rat kidney based on 3D MR image after cationic agent injection . The number of glomeruli counted here is consistent with the known number of glomeruli. The technique is thus proposed to quantify glomerular structure and function in vivo, and may be useful for detecting the distribution of contrast agents throughout the body.
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