Hepatic fatty acid profile in mice with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease using magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by the accumulation of intracellular fatty acids in the liver. The only method to confirm the stage of this disease is the biopsy, but it is invasive and risky to patients. The idea of defining a classifier using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) emerges due to the need to find a way to replace biopsy with a non-invasive method that can classify NAFLD based on the chemical structure of fatty acids stored in the liver. The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the composition of fatty acids to the metabolites signals in MRS in NAFLD mice liver at 2 time-point during the progression of the disease. A group of C57BL/6 mice was fed with high-fat diet for one month (N = 8) and for three months (N = 6). First, we made a histological analysis to the liver. Then, we analysed the fatty acids with gas chromatography (GC) and MRS. As a result, the histological analysis showed the progression of fat content, and the GC analysis detected a different fatty acid liver composition during the progression of NAFLD along with an increase of the total fat storage in the liver. The differences in the composition fatty acids are also reflected in the MR Spectrum, which could have clinical potential for monitoring the progression of this disease with a non-invasive technique.