Abstract
Hepatic steatosis is associated with various liver diseases. The main pathological feature of steatosis is the excessive lipid accumulation. Ultrasound has been extensively used for the diagnosis of hepatic steatosis. However, most ultrasound-based non-invasive methods are still not accurate enough for cases with light lipid infiltration. One important reason is that the extent to which lipid infiltration may affect mechanical properties of hepatocytes remains unknown. In this work, we used atomic force microscope and in vitro dose-dependent lipid deposition model to detect the quantitative changes of mechanical properties under different degrees of steatosis in a single-cell level. The results show that hepatic cells with lipid deposition can be treated as linear viscoelastic materials with the power law creep compliance and relaxation modulus. Further analysis showed that even slight accumulation of lipid can lead to measurable decrease of stiffness and increased fluidity in liver cells. The accurate detection of viscoelastic properties of hepatocytes and the analysis methods may provide novel insights into hepatic steatosis grading, especially in the very early stage with reversible liver lesion. The application of viscoelasticity index for grading fat deposition might be a new detection indicator in future clinical diagnosis.
Highlights
Hepatic steatosis is associated with various liver diseases (Sanyal et al, 2010; Hoyles et al, 2018)
Some major diseases associated with steatosis include non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) (Seitz et al, 2018; Gu et al, 2019), which are the major chronic liver diseases with a growing incidence every year
Steatosis is recognized in multiple liver diseases and characterized by the deposition of fat droplets (Petäjä and Yki-Järvinen, 2016)
Summary
Hepatic steatosis is associated with various liver diseases (Sanyal et al, 2010; Hoyles et al, 2018). Some major diseases associated with steatosis include non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) (Seitz et al, 2018; Gu et al, 2019), which are the major chronic liver diseases with a growing incidence every year. NAFLD can lead to liver dysfunction, hepatitis, and cirrhosis. An effective drug that can prevent and treat NAFLD has not been developed. Most patients with NAFLD may have no obvious clinical symptoms (Krawitz and Pyrsopoulos, 2020). Control and intervention can effectively reverse disease progression. Early diagnosis is highly important for patients with NAFLD
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