Transcutaneous measurement of renal function in conscious mice

A Schreiber, Y Shulhevich, S Geraci… - American Journal …, 2012 - journals.physiology.org
A Schreiber, Y Shulhevich, S Geraci, J Hesser, D Stsepankou, S Neudecker, S Koenig…
American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology, 2012journals.physiology.org
Determination of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in conscious mice is cumbersome for the
experimenter and stressful for the animals. Here we report on a simple new technique
allowing the transcutaneous measurement of GFR in conscious mice. This approach
extends our previously developed technique for rats to mice. The technique relies on a
miniaturized device equipped with an internal memory that permits the transcutaneous
measurement of the elimination kinetics of the fluorescent renal marker FITC-sinistrin. This …
Determination of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in conscious mice is cumbersome for the experimenter and stressful for the animals. Here we report on a simple new technique allowing the transcutaneous measurement of GFR in conscious mice. This approach extends our previously developed technique for rats to mice. The technique relies on a miniaturized device equipped with an internal memory that permits the transcutaneous measurement of the elimination kinetics of the fluorescent renal marker FITC-sinistrin. This device is described and validated compared with FITC-sinistrin plasma clearance in healthy, unilaterally nephrectomized and pcy mice. In summary, we describe a technique allowing the measurement of renal function in freely moving mice independent of blood or urine sampling as well as of laboratory assays.
American Physiological Society