title: Diagnostic evaluation of carbon tetrachloride-induced rat hepatic cirrhosis model.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Gi-Ppeum
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Won-Il
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Da-Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Sun-Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Do
authors.forename: Tae-Hwan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kyu-Shik
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride