MRI visualization of rodent liver structure and peritoneal adhesion with dialyzate enhancement.

This study investigated the use of peritoneal dialysis fluid (dialyzate) as a MR contrast agent to visualize the liver structure and peritoneal adhesion in rats at 7 T. Intraperitoneal injection of dialyzate (approximately 0.1 ml/g) yielded excellent and consistent intraperitoneal enhancement that delineated the liver lobular structure in all rats studied (N = 8). It also allowed the MR detection of peritoneal adhesions that were surgically induced. MR measurements of adhesion surface areas correlated well with the postmortem estimations (R = 0.99; N = 6). Dialyzate persisted in the intraperitoneal cavity for up to 2 days. T(1) and T(2) values of undiluted dialyzate were found to be 3017.5 +/- 35.3 ms and 108.4 +/- 2.0 ms, respectively. These findings demonstrated dialyzate-enhanced MRI as a potentially valuable technique to localize certain activities within liver (such as local tumor metastasis), and to monitor therapeutic interventions (e.g., against peritoneal adhesion) in preclinical research using small animal models. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.