Diagnostic evaluation of carbon tetrachloride-induced rat hepatic cirrhosis model
Lee, G-Ppeum.; Jeong, W-Il.; Jeong, D-Hee.; Do, S-Hee.; Kim, T-Hwan.; Jeong, K-Shik.
Anticancer Research 25(2a): 1029-1038
2005
ISSN/ISBN: 0250-7005 PMID: 15868943 Document Number: 589207
Background: To find a non-invasive method of diagnosing hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis, we evaluated the relationship of the hepatic cirrhosis grade between histopathology and mean grey level (MGL) in B-mode ultrasonography in CCl4-induced liver cirrhosis. Materials and Methods: Three groups of rats were treated with olive oil, CCl4, and CCl4 + silymarin. Rats were sacrificed at weeks 4, 8 and 12, after B-mode ultrasonography examination, and then analyzed histopathologically for fatty change and fibrosis. Results: On the grade of fibrosis, the CCl4 group showed higher value at 8 and 12 weeks than the silymarin group. However, the fatty change was enhanced in the silymarin group, compared with the CCl4 group. The B-mode histogram values were the highest in the silymarin group, but the collagen rate was highest in the CCl4-treated group, at week 12. These results suggest that the B-mode histogram can be more affected by infiltration of lipid than by intact accumulation of collagen fibers. Conclusion: In the histogram of 8 and 12 weeks, there were significant differences between the CCl4-treated group and silymarin group in mean grey levels of B-mode ultrasonography. The histogram of B-mode mean grey level has a close correlation with fatty change and is useful for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis by histopathological analysis.