Liver function reserve (LFR) is the sum of remnant functional hepatic cells after liver injury. In the pathologic process of liver fibrosis (LF), LFR is impaired. LFR assessment can help determine the safe scope of liver resection or drug regimen and predict prognosis of patients with liver disease. Here, we used a photoacoustic imaging (PAI) system to assess LF and LFR in rabbit models. We performed PAI, ultrasound elastography and biopsy for 21 rabbits developing none (n = 6) and LF (n = 15). In vivo indocyanine green (ICG) measurements by PAI showed that LF group presented a significantly attenuated ICG clearance compared to control group, indicating LFR impairment of LF. Another finding was a significantly higher collagen photoacoustic signal intensity value was observed in LF both in vivo and in vitro. Our findings demonstrated that PAI was potentially effective to evaluate LFR and collagen accumulation of LF.

中文翻译：

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无创多光谱光声成像诊断肝纤维化和肝功能储​​备

肝功能储备（LFR）是肝损伤后剩余的功能性肝细胞的总和。在肝纤维化（LF）的病理过程中，LFR受损。 LFR评估有助于确定肝切除或药物治疗的安全范围以及预测肝病患者的预后。在这里，我们使用光声成像 (PAI) 系统来评估兔子模型中的 LF 和 LFR。我们对 21 只兔子进行了 PAI、超声弹性成像和活检，没有出现任何症状（n = 6），也没有出现 LF（n = 15）。 PAI 体内吲哚菁绿 (ICG) 测量显示，与对照组相比，LF 组的 ICG 清除率显着减弱，表明 LF 的 LFR 受损。另一个发现是在体内和体外 LF 中观察到明显更高的胶原蛋白光声信号强度值。我们的研究结果表明，PAI 可能有效评估 LFR 和 LF 的胶原蛋白积累。