Evaluation of Water Molecules in the Cold-Preserved Rat Liver by Proton Magnetic Resonance Imaging

摘要

Hypothermically preserved rat livers were studied with proton magnetic resonance imaging (Η-MRI) under proton density-, spin-lattice relaxation time-, spin-spin relaxation time- and diffusion-weighted (P-W, Tι-W, T2-W and D-W) conditions. Relative signal intensities (RSI) of the liver to distilled water in terms of P-W, Ti-W, T2-W and D-W increased time-dependently during 12 h hypothermic (4°C) preservation with saline, while these parameters did not increase during preservation with University of Wisconsin (UW) solution. One-hour Wiggers’ hypotensive treatment before the harvesting increased the RSIs of P-W, T2-W and D-W, and the subsequent 12-hour preservation with UW solution did not improve the increased RSIs. These results suggest that Η-MRI has potential application in evaluating the biophysical changes of water molecules in the liver graft, which were measured by placing the harvested liver in a plastic bag under a magnetic field at a low temper