Establishment of a rat self-control model with the bile duct deprived and the portal vein deprived hepatic lobe and the casting liver specimen scanned by Micro-CT

Abstract

Objective To establish a rat self-control model with the bile duct deprived (BDD) and the portal vein deprived (PVD) hepatic lobe and to observe whether there were communicated branches between the two lobes.Methods Forty SD rats were divided into four groups: group S with sham operation as an undisposed blank control, group BL with the right lobe bile duct embolized and ligated, group PL with the quadrate lobe portal vein ligated, and group BPL with the right lobe bile duct embolized and ligated and meanwhile the quadrate lobe portal vein ligated. The right hepatic bile ducts were embolized with cyanoacrylate and then ligated to prepare the BDD lobe. The portal vein of quadrate hepatic lobes was ligated as the PVD lobes. The observation period was 1 month after the bile duct or portal vein ligated. The values of liver weight/body weight and the quadrate lobe weight/the right lobe weight were recorded. The bile duct and portal vein casting specimens of these four groups were prepared by a perfusion with barium and gelatin solution. Three-dimensional micro-computerized tomography (Micro-CT) data sets were acquired to observe the morphological changes of bile duct and portal vein of the livers and whether there were communicated branches between the right and quadrate lobes in order to estimate the feasibility of the model.Results (1) The survival rate of rats after operation was 100%. No jaundice was observed. The ratio of liver/body weight in groups S, BL and PL was about 3.5%, significantly lower than that in group BPL (P<0.01). The ratio of quadrate/right lobe weight in groups S and BL was about 60%-70%, while that was about 20% in groups PL and BPL (P<0.05, or P<0.01); (2) Micro-CT images exhibited directly the morphological changes of the hepatic bile duct and portal vein, and no communicated branches or side circulation situation were observed between the two lobes.Conclusion No collateral branches were found between the two lobes and the model was successfully established. The barium casting liver specimen scanned by micro-CT provided a useful method for the morphological observation of rat liver Glissons system. Key words: Bile duct embolization; Portal vein ligation; Model,animal; Liver casting specimen; CT scan