The measurement of acoustic impedance of the cells cultured with five kinds of the fatty acid

Early diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is highly desired because NASH can lead to cirrhosis or even to hepatocellular carcinoma in some severe cases. Towards non-invasive diagnosis with ultrasound, we studied free fatty acids (FFAs) present in the liver, which is the organ most likely to be affected by the disease. As a preclinical study, we performed acoustic-impedance measurements of five kinds of FFAs in solvent or in cultured Huh7 cells. To measure the acoustic impedance, a concave transducer with an 80-MHz center frequency was incorporated in a scanning acoustic microscopy system. One-way ANOVA showed statistically-significant differences (p <; 0.05) in acoustic impedance among the FFAs in FFA solvent and with cultured Huh7 cells. These results suggest that each of the FFAs, especially PA, OA and PAOA could be distinguished from each other regardless of whether they were in solution or in absorbed by cells.