Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 28, 2018; 24(44): 5005-5012
Published online Nov 28, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i44.5005
Development of a novel rat model of heterogeneous hepatic injury by injection with colchicine via the splenic vein
Yan-Yan Zhang, Chao-Xu Zhang, Yu Li, Xuan Jiang, Yong-Fang Wang, Yang Sun, Jun Wang, Wan-Ying Ji, Yi Liu
Yan-Yan Zhang, Medical Imaging Center, The Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Traditional Chinese Medical University, Shenyang 110032, Liaoning Province, China
Yan-Yan Zhang, Yong-Fang Wang, Yang Sun, Jun Wang, Wan-Ying Ji, Yi Liu, Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Chao-Xu Zhang, Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Yu Li, Xuan Jiang, Department of Cardiac Surgery, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Liu Y designed the research; Zhang YY, Li Y, and Jiang X performed the research; Wang YF contributed new reagents or analytic tools; Sun Y, Wang J, and Ji WY analyzed the data; Zhang YY and Zhang CX wrote the paper.
Supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation, No. 81471719.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Hospital of China Medical University (No. AF-SOP-07-7.1-01).
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All experimental procedures were performed in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals published by the National Institutes of Health. This study was approved by the animal care committee of our university.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflict of interest exists.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The ARRIVE Guidelines have been adopted.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author to: Yi Liu, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Heping District, No. 155, Nanjing Street, Shenyang 110001, Liaoning Province, China. liuyicmu@sina.cn
Telephone: +86-18740085050 Fax: +86-24-83282859
Received: September 11, 2018
Peer-review started: September 11, 2018
First decision: October 11, 2018
Revised: October 20, 2018
Accepted: November 2, 2018
Article in press: November 2, 2018
Published online: November 28, 2018
Abstract
AIM

To develop a novel rat model of heterogeneous hepatic injury.

METHODS

Seventy male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group (n = 10) and a colchicine group (n = 60). A 0.25% colchicine solution (0.4 mL/kg) was injected via the splenic vein in the colchicine group to develop a rat model of heterogeneous hepatic injury. An equal volume of normal saline was injected via the splenic vein in the control group. At days 3, 7, and 14 and weeks 4, 8, and 12 after the operation, at least seven rats of the colchicine group were selected randomly for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations, and then they were euthanized. Ten rats of the control group underwent MRI examinations at the same time points, and then were euthanized at week 12. T2-weighted images (T2WI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) were used to evaluate the heterogeneous hepatic injury. The heterogeneous injury between the left and right hepatic lobes was assessed on liver sections according to the histological scoring criteria, and correlated with the results of MRI study.

RESULTS

Obvious pathological changes occurred in the hepatic parenchyma in the colchicine group. Hepatic injury scores were significantly different between the left and right lobes at each time point (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of DWI and liver-to-muscle ratio (LMR) of T2WI between the left and right lobes of rats in the colchicine group (P < 0.05) at each time point, and similar results were observed between the colchicine and control groups. Besides, there was a significant correlation between hepatic injury scores and ADC values or LMR (r = -0.682, P = 0.000; r = -0.245, P = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

Injection with colchicine via the splenic vein can be used to successfully develop a rat model of heterogeneous hepatic injury. DWI and T2WI may help evaluate the heterogeneous injury among liver lobes.

Keywords: Heterogeneous hepatic injury, Rat model, Colchicine, T2-weighted images, Diffusion weighted imaging

Core tip: In this study, injection with colchicine via the splenic vein is shown to successfully develop a rat model of heterogeneous hepatic injury. Obvious pathological changes occurred in the hepatic parenchyma in the colchicine group. A significant difference was observed in liver injury scores, apparent diffusion coefficient values, and liver-to-muscle ratios of T2-weighted images (T2WI) between the left and right lobes in the colchicine group (P < 0.05). Our study suggested that diffusion weighted imaging and T2WI can be used to evaluate the heterogeneous injury among liver lobes.