Abstract

BackgroundTo investigate the merit of T1rho relaxation for the evaluation of liver fibrosis, inflammatory activity, and liver injury monitoring in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced rat model.MethodsModel rats from CCl4-induced liver fibrosis (fibrosis group: n = 41; regression group: n = 20) and control (n = 11) groups underwent black blood T1rho magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (MRI). Injection of CCl4 was done twice weekly for up to 12 weeks in the fibrosis group and for up to 6 weeks in the regression group. MR scanning time points were at baseline and at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks after CCl4 injection in the fibrosis group and at baseline and at 2, 4, 6 (CCl4 withdrawal), 7, 8, 10 and 12 weeks in the regression group.ResultsIn the fibrosis group, liver T1rho values increased gradually within week 8 and then decreased. In the regression group, T1rho values dropped gradually after the withdrawal of CCl4 and fell below those at baseline. The T1rho values at S0 were lower than those at any other stage (all P < 0.05). The T1rho values at G0 were significantly lower than those at any other grade, and G1 was lower than G2 (all P < 0.01). The T1rho values mildly correlated with fibrosis stages (r = 0.362) and moderately correlated with grades of inflammation (r = 0.568). The T1rho values of rats with the same inflammation grades showed no significant difference among different fibrosis stages, and the T1rho values at S3 showed a significant difference among different grades of inflammation (P = 0.024). Inflammation grade was an independent variable associated with T1rho values (P < 0.001).ConclusionT1rho MRI can be used to monitor CCl4-induced liver injury, and inflammatory activity had a greater impact on liver T1rho values than fibrosis.

Highlights

  • To investigate the merit of T1rho relaxation for the evaluation of liver fibrosis, inflammatory activity, and liver injury monitoring in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced rat model

  • Rat characteristics The pathology results demonstrated that a small number rats showed fibrosis in stage 1 to 3

  • 110 rats were used in this study, of which 47 were excluded, including one rat that showed severe artifacts of T1rho imaging in the fibrosis group

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Summary

Introduction

To investigate the merit of T1rho relaxation for the evaluation of liver fibrosis, inflammatory activity, and liver injury monitoring in a carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced rat model. Xie et al BMC Gastroenterology (2020) 20:14 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion weighted MRI, and MR elastography [8,9,10,11,12,13] These techniques have unique challenges including low repeatability, inaccuracy, radiation exposure, the use of contrast agent, and the requirement of dedicated installation equipment. Experimental studies have demonstrated the potential of T1rho MR imaging for monitoring liver injury, diagnosing and staging liver fibrosis, and grading inflammatory activity [17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24]. More studies are needed to investigate the impact of liver fibrosis and inflammatory activity on liver T1rho values

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