Descriptor of Research
The long-term goal of this work is to develop translatable noninvasive biomarkers of early progression of diabetic nephropathy. Nephropathy and subsequent progression to end stage renal failure are common in diabetic patients, leading to a requirement for life-changing dialysis or transplant. There are currently no tools to detect early microstructural or functional pathology that many predict early pathology in nephropathy, and current markers from biopsy are prone to error, invasive, and employed only when disease is suspected. In this pilot and feasibility study we develop and validate a novel approach to diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in vivo, to measure several primary features of the
tubules as noninvasive biomarkers that may predict nephropathy. We further demonstrate the feasibility of performing the same technique in human kidneys on a clinical MRI system.