Evaluation of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Using Ultrashort Echo Time Magnetization Transfer (UTE-MT) in Mice

Motivation: UTE-MT can non-invasively quantify the macromolecular content changes of short T2 tissues, which has the potential to assess non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Goal(s): To utilize the quantitative UTE-MT technique to assess NAFLD. Approach: Sixteen mice (8 control mice and 8 mice with NAFLD) underwent liver scans using UTE-MT sequence on a 3T MRI scanner. Results: The liver UTE-MTR values of mice in the NAFLD group were significantly lower than those in the normal group. High AUC values (AUC=0.955) obtained from the ROC analysis demonstrate that the UTE-MTR could differentiate the normal and NAFLD cohorts. Impact: The UTE-MTR can detect the macromolecular changes in the liver. Liver UTE-MTR may serve as a promising imaging biomarker to assess NAFLD.