Abstract
Devices that analyze body composition of rodents by time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR) are becoming popular in research centers that study metabolism. Theoretically, TD-NMR devices can also evaluate lipid content in isolated tissues. However, the accuracy of TD-NMR to determine hepatic steatosis in the liver of small laboratory animals has not been evaluated in detail. We observed that TD-NMR was able to detect increased lipid content in the liver of rats consuming high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks and in genetically obese (Lepob/ob and Leprdb/db) mice. The lipid content determined by TD-NMR showed a positive correlation with triglyceride content measured by colorimetric assays. In contrast, TD-NMR did not detect hepatic steatosis in C57BL/6 mice consuming HFD for 4 or 12 weeks, despite their obesity and increased liver triglyceride content. These findings indicate that tissue mass and the severity of hepatic steatosis affect the sensitivity of TD-NMR to detect liver lipid content.
Highlights
Hepatic steatosis, known as fatty liver disease, is a condition of excessive lipid accumulation in the liver
The high-fat diet (HFD) group had increased body fat mass in comparison with the control group (p = 0.006; Figure 1b). These results demonstrate the effectiveness of HFD to increase body adiposity in rats
Using time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR), we observed a higher percentage of fat in the liver of the HFD group, compared to rats consuming a chow diet (p < 0.001; Figure 1d)
Summary
Known as fatty liver disease, is a condition of excessive lipid accumulation in the liver. There are several conditions that may promote hepatic steatosis, such as obesity, alcoholism, chemotherapy or infectious causes [1]. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common spectrum of fatty hepatic steatosis [2], affecting 25% of adult individuals in the world, with elevated rates in South America (31%) and the Middle East (32%) [3]. NAFLD has a strong association with diverse hepatic health problems, such as cirrhosis or liver cancer [4], leading to reduction of the rate of survival in the long term [2]. The severe progressive form of NAFLD, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is becoming a top indication of liver transplant in the United States and represents a major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma [5]. Investigations about fatty liver disorders are essential for the development of potentially new treatment and/or prevention approaches
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