DCE-MRI Reveals Functional Changes in Murine Kidneys After Warm Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Marlies Oostendorp^1,2, Eva E. de Vries^1,3, L. W.E. van Heurn^1,3, Walter H. Backes^1,2

A common problem of kidney transplantation is that kidneys are damaged due to a period of ischemia between death of the donor and kidney cooling. Novel therapies are being developed to limit renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve the clinical outcome of kidney transplants. However, to fully assess their therapeutic efficacy, new non-invasive imaging methods are required. Here, we describe the application of Dynamic Contrast Enhanced MRI using the separable compartment model in combination with a reference region input function, to assess kidney function in a mouse model of renal ischemia-reperfusion injury.