Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance in vivo spectroscopy of human liver during hepatitis A virus infection.

To evaluate the changes in hepatocellular phospholipid metabolism during hepatitis virus infection, 26 patients with acute viral hepatitis A were studied by means of phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (31P-NMR) spectroscopy. The spectroscopy of liver showed six signal components in all patients as well as in the normal volunteers. During the early phase of illness, the phosphomonoester (PME)-phosphodiester (PDE) ratios in the patients became markedly greater than the ratios in the controls (P < 0.001). Within six weeks after the onset, the PME/PDE ratios returned to the level of controls. The time course analysis indicated an inverse correlation between the PME/PDE ratio and the period of time after onset (r = 0.738, P < 0.001). The spectral changes of human liver observed in acute viral hepatitis A are similar to those in the regenerating rat liver, indicating that 31P-NMR spectroscopy allows a noninvasive study of cell turnover in human liver disease associated with acute virus infection.