Beneficial Effects of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Therapy on Liver Regeneration

Question Liver resection is often the only feasible therapy option in treating benign and malignant diseases of the liver. Thereby, curative surgery is depending on the removal of the adequate amount of parenchyma, with the challenge of leaving a sufficient amount of functional liver tissue in situ. Until now, nuclear magnetic resonance therapy (NRMT) is utilized for osteoarthritis (OA) or osteoporosis treatment with promising results leading to improvement of patient”s function. In vitro experiments confirmed elevated proliferation rates for human chondrocytes and osteoblasts under culture conditions. To potentially improve liver regeneration after parenchyma resection, the aim of the present study was to investigate effects of NRMT on liver cells in an animal model of critical liver resection.

Methods Rats (n = 54) were randomly assigned to three different groups: 1. sham group without NMRT; 2. treatment with a frequency normally used for OA; 3. treatment with a frequency normally used for osteoporosis and bone”s circulatory disorder with n = 18 animals, respectively. All rats received a 70 % liver resection. Rats were sacrificed after 4, 7 or 14 days and livers were histologically analyzed for liver regeneration (for mitosis rate BrdU and Ki 67; for angiogenesis VEGF) and injury (silver- and HE-staining and immunohistochemical determination of anti-vimentin).

Results No negative/injuring effects of NMRT on rat liver tissue were found. Moreover, treatment with different frequencies lead to altered mitosis rates and time of liver regeneration. Treatment with NMRT revealed a better cell proliferation with significantly higher mitosis rate and significantly smaller cells indicating a terminated regeneration process.

Conclusions An accelerated regeneration capacity could ameliorate the options in liver surgery and postoperative outcome. Further studies are needed to not only confirm but also clarify the beneficial effect of NMRT on parenchyma of the liver.

Publication History

Article published online:
04 January 2021