NONINVASIVE INVESTIGATION OF PARENCHYMAL LIVER-DISEASE USING P-31 NMR-SPECTROSCOPY

Four P-31 NMR spectroscopy parameters were measured non-invasively in the liver of 11 healthy pigs and 9 pigs with CCl4-induced liver diseas e: (i) absolute molar concentration of phosphorous metabolites; (ii) p H based on the chemical shift of the P(i) peak; (iii) T1 of the peaks in the P-31 NMR spectrum; and (iv) changes in ATP, P(i) and phosphomon oester after fructose administration. Liver disease was verified by hi stology and blood chemistry. The concentration of ATP decreased from 3 .0(2.8-3.1) to 2.0(2.0-2.4) mM (median and quartiles) when liver disea se was induced (p<0.05). The concentration of phosphodiesters (PDEs) d ecreased from 14.8(11.4-19.5) to 8.7(7.4-11.6) mM (p<0.05). pH increas ed by 0.1 unit. T1 relaxation times for the gamma-, alpha- and beta-AT P peaks increased from 320(249-471) to 577(506-638) ms (p<0.01), from 765(611-786) to 906(820-1058) ms (p<0.05) and from 402(327-509) to 579 (543-743) ms (p<0.01), respectively, while T1 for the PDE peak decreas ed from 2204(1909-2404) to 1758(1502-1894) ms (p<0.05). In the healthy animals injection of fructose was followed by a reduction of ATP (bet a-ATP). In diseased livers this reduction was significantly smaller. I n conclusion, it was possible non-invasively to show differences betwe en healthy and diseased livers in all NMR parameters evaluated. This m eans that P-31 NMR spectroscopy may have a potential as a non-invasive diagnostic method for studying liver disease.