Quantitative evaluation of dexamethasone treatment effects in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury using contrast enhanced ultrasonography in rats.

BACKGROUND Renal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury often occurs in various clinical events, and its incidence and mortality have been increasing. OBJECTIVE To investigate the value of contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the monitoring of dexamethasone in the improvement of renal I/R injury in rats. METHODS Eighteen healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operated, I/R, and I/R surgery plus dexamethasone treatment (Dexa) groups. In the I/R group 45-minute renal ischemia with 24 h reperfusion period was monitored. Time-intensity curve (TIC)-derived parameters, which included peak value, time to peak (TP), area under the curve (AUC), and mean transit time (MTT) were compared to the blood creatinine, urea, Caspase-1, and NLRP3 levels. RESULTS The I/R group showed an increased peak value, prolonged TP and MTT, and greater AUC (P < 0.05). The Dexa group showed shorter TP and MTT, and smaller AUC (P < 0.05). Results show that the associations between (i) TP, AUC, and MTT and (ii) creatinine, urea, Caspase-1, and NLRP3 levels were significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Dexamethasone can alleviate renal I/R injury in rats, which may be related to the inhibition of NLRP3 and caspase-1. CEUS can quantitatively measure this change, in which the changes in TP, AUC and MMT values have considerable reference values.