Diagnostic evaluation of carbon tetrachloride-induced rat hepatic cirrhosis model.
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.


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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Lee
Gi-Ppeum
GP
Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
Jeong
Won-Il
WI
Jeong
Da-Hee
DH
Do
Sun-Hee
SH
Kim
Tae-Hwan
TH
Jeong
Kyu-Shik
KS
D000818:Animals; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride / Q000633:toxicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D008106:Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014463:Ultrasonography
D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride