Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 23, 2026
Measurement of Liver Stiffness Using Atomic Force Microscopy Coupled with Polarization Microscopy
Published on: July 20, 2022
Modeling the mechanical properties of liver fibrosis in rats
Ying Zhu1, Xin Chen2, Xinyu Zhang2
1Research Laboratory for Biomedical Optics and Molecular Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China; School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518160, China; National-Regional Key Technology Engineering Laboratory for Medical Ultrasound, Shenzhen 518160, China.
Abstract:
The progression of liver fibrosis changes the biomechanical properties of liver tissue. This study characterized and compared different liver fibrosis stages in rats in terms of viscoelasticity. Three viscoelastic models, the Voigt, Maxwell, and Zener models, were applied to experimental data from rheometer tests and then the elasticity and viscosity were estimated for each fibrosis stage. The study found that both elasticity and viscosity are correlated with the various stages of liver fibrosis. The study revealed that the Zener model is the optimal model for describing the mechanical properties of each fibrosis stage, but there is no significant difference between the Zener and Voigt models in their performance on liver fibrosis staging. Therefore the Voigt model can still be effectively used for liver fibrosis grading.
