Imaging Cisplatin-Induced Acute Kidney Injury Using Ultrasound Molecular Imaging

Cisplatin is a commonly used chemotherapeutic for the treatment of cancers of the bladder, ovaries, and testes. Nephrotoxicity is the major dose limiting side effect from cisplatin usage and manifests in the form of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in patients. AKI affects about 30% of patients undergoing treatment under cisplatin. The goal of this project was to develop a model tracking the development cisplatin-induced AKI in FVB mouse using three different doses of 7mg/kg, 10mg/kg, 15mg/kg. Each mice group was given one weekly intraperitoneal injection over the course of four weeks and monitored daily to track their weight progression and condition. Masson’s Trichrome and H&E staining was performed on histological samples from harvested kidneys to be imaged and analyzed later for inflammation and fibrosis from tubular damage. The histological samples indicate a progression in AKI with the increased dosage as expected. Following this model, later experimentation for the future can test to see if utilization of ultrasound molecular imaging and kidney-safe contrast agent microbubble could potentially detect the damage before normally used clinical tests such as GFR measurements.