Changes in the electrical properties at an early stage of mouse liver carcinogenesis

The present investigation reports the changes in the electrical properties of hepatic tissue in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 5 MHz at an early stage of liver carcinogenesis using the four-pin electrode method. The hepatocarcinogenesis model was developed by intraperitoneal injection of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) to male Balb/c mice. Histopathological assessment revealed high-grade dysplasia in the liver of NDEA-treated animals. The ultrastructural investigations indicated the presence of large and clumped cells with inconspicuous cell boundaries. The treatment resulted in significant changes in the dielectric properties of the tissues. A decrease in tissue conductivity along with an increase in relative permittivity was observed. The biophysical changes correlated well with histoarchitectural and morphological changes. The alterations in architectural arrangement and membrane structure of cells may be responsible for the observed changes in the dielectric properties.

[1]  Lewis R. Roberts,et al.  Hepatocellular carcinoma: a global view , 2010, Nature Reviews Gastroenterology &Hepatology.

[2]  C. Gabriel.  Dielectric properties of biological tissue: Variation with age , 2005, Bioelectromagnetics.

[3]  J. W. Wilson,et al.  The occurrence and formation of binucleate and multinucleate cells and polyploid nuclei in the mouse liver. , 1948, The American journal of anatomy.

[4]  M. Roncalli,et al.  Impact of large regenerative, low grade and high grade dysplastic nodules in hepatocellular carcinoma development. , 2003, Journal of hepatology.

[5]  M. Wilson,et al.  Regeneration of mouse liver after partial hepatectomy. , 1953, Cancer research.

[6]  R. Pethig,et al.  Dielectric properties of body tissues. , 1987, Clinical physics and physiological measurement : an official journal of the Hospital Physicists' Association, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Medizinische Physik and the European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics.

[7]  Boris Rubinsky,et al.  Electrical impedance characterization of normal and cancerous human hepatic tissue , 2010, Physiological measurement.

[8]  C. Gabriel,et al.  Complex permittivity of sodium chloride solutions at microwave frequencies , 2007, Bioelectromagnetics.

[9]  Christopher L. Davey,et al.  The dielectric properties of biological cells at radiofrequencies : Applications in biotechnology , 1999 .

[10]  R. Sundararajan,et al.  Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy Study of Biological Tissues. , 2008, Journal of electrostatics.

[11]  C. Vogel,et al.  Liver cell dysplasia: a premalignant condition , 1973, Journal of clinical pathology.

[12]  E. Gersing.  Impedance spectroscopy on living tissue for determination of the state of organs , 1998 .

[13]  Dieter Haemmerich,et al.  In vivo electrical conductivity of hepatic tumours. , 2003, Physiological measurement.

[14]  Y H Xu,et al.  The Initiation-Promotion-Progression Model of Rat Hepatocarcinogenesis , 1993, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine.

[15]  B. Brown,et al.  The detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia by electrical impedance spectroscopy: the effects of acetic acid and tissue homogeneity. , 2009, Gynecologic oncology.

[16]  D. Hanahan,et al.  Hallmarks of Cancer: The Next Generation , 2011, Cell.

[17]  C. Gabriel,et al.  Electrical conductivity of tissue at frequencies below 1 MHz , 2009, Physics in medicine and biology.

[18]  J. Folkman,et al.  SELF-REGULATION OF GROWTH IN THREE DIMENSIONS , 1973, The Journal of experimental medicine.

[19]  S. Bharati,et al.  Azadirachta indica exhibits chemopreventive action against hepatic cancer: Studies on associated histopathological and ultrastructural changes , 2012, Microscopy research and technique.

[20]  M. Elia,et al.  Bioelectrical impedance analysis--part I: review of principles and methods. , 2004, Clinical nutrition.

[21]  Dieter Haemmerich,et al.  Electrical conductivity measurement of excised human metastatic liver tumours before and after thermal ablation , 2009, Physiological measurement.

[22]  R. W. Lau,et al.  The dielectric properties of biological tissues: II. Measurements in the frequency range 10 Hz to 20 GHz. , 1996, Physics in medicine and biology.

[23]  Y. Feldman,et al.  Time domain dielectric spectroscopy study of human cells. II. Normal and malignant white blood cells. , 1999, Biochimica et biophysica acta.

[24]  Tai-Ping Sun,et al.  The use of bioimpedance in the detection/screening of tongue cancer. , 2010, Cancer epidemiology.