Renal disease is difficult to detect, particularly in a form called acute renal failure. We are developing new methods to detect renal disease involving either MRI, or urine or blood tests. 1)Detection of proximal tubule damage in mice MRI using dendrimer gadolinium chelate nanoparticles. We found that Gadolinium nanoparticles accumulate in the proximal tubule, and can be used to detect renal structure, function, and injury. We have now used these methods to detect sepsis-acute renal failure, small renal cysts, and decreased cortical thickness seen in chronic renal disease. 2) Is inflammation involved in ARF? We can detect renal inflammation using MRI with ultra-small iron oxide particles (USPIO). Unfortunately, this method is not as sensitive as we would like. 3) Markers for early diagnosis. We are new using proteomic techniques to search for early biomarkers of sepsis-induced acute renal failure. We have a few excellent candidates that are being validated using our mouse and rat sepsis-acute renal failure models. 4) We developed an HPLC method that accurately measures creatinine in mouse serum.
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