Towards linking histological changes to liver viscoelasticity: a hybrid analytical-computational micromechanics approach

作     者：Shah, Haritya Guddati, Murthy N. 

作者机构：North Carolina State Univ Raleigh NC 27695 USA 

出 版 物：《PHYSICS IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY》 (Phys. Med. Biol.)

年 卷 期：2025年第70卷第4期

页      面：045005-045005页

核心收录：

学科分类：0831[工学-生物医学工程（可授工学、理学、医学学位）] 1001[医学-基础医学(可授医学、理学学位)] 1009[医学-特种医学] 10[医学] 

基　　金：National Science Foundationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001 [DMS-2111234] National Science Foundation [R01 HL145268] National Institute of Health 

主　　题：viscoelasticity homogenization steatosis micromechanics elastography 

摘      要：Motivated by elastography that utilizes tissue mechanical properties as biomarkers for liver disease, with the eventual objective of quantitatively linking histopathology and bulk mechanical properties, we develop a micromechanical modeling approach to capture the effects of fat and collagen deposition in the liver. Specifically, we utilize computational homogenization to convert the microstructural changes in hepatic lobule to the effective viscoelastic modulus of the liver tissue, i.e. predict the bulk material properties by analyzing the deformation of repeating unit cell. The lipid and collagen deposition is simulated with the help of ad hoc algorithms informed by histological observations. Collagen deposition is directly included in the computational model, while composite material theory is used to convert fat content to the microscopic mechanical properties, which in turn is included in the computational model. The results illustrate the model s ability to capture the effect of both fat and collagen deposition on the viscoelastic moduli and represents a step towards linking histopathological changes in the liver to its bulk mechanical properties, which can eventually provide insights for accurate diagnosis with elastography.