Renal sinus fat and renal hemodynamics: a cross-sectional analysis

OBJECTIVES: Increased renal sinus fat (RSF) is associated with hypertension and chronic kidney disease, but underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. We evaluated relations between RSF and gold-standard measures of renal hemodynamics in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. METHODS: Fifty-one T2D patients [age 63 ± 7 years; BMI 31 (28–34) kg/m(2); GFR 83 ± 16 mL/min/1.73 m(2)] underwent MRI-scanning to quantify RSF volume, and subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue compartments (SAT and VAT, respectively). GFR and effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) were determined by inulin and PAH clearances, respectively. Effective renal vascular resistance (ERVR) was calculated. RESULTS: RSF correlated negatively with GFR (r = − 0.38; p = 0.006) and ERPF (r = − 0.38; p = 0.006) and positively with mean arterial pressure (MAP) (r = 0.29; p = 0.039) and ERVR (r = 0.45, p = 0.001), which persisted after adjustment for VAT, MAP, sex, and BMI. After correction for age, ERVR remained significantly related to RSF. CONCLUSIONS: In T2D patients, higher RSF volume was negatively associated to GFR. In addition, RSF volume was positively associated with increased renal vascular resistance, which may mediate hypertension and CKD development. Further research is needed to investigate how RSF may alter the (afferent) vascular resistance of the renal vasculature. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10334-019-00773-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.