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In vivo assessment of cold stimulation effects on the fat fraction of brown adipose tissue using DIXON MRI
Author(s) -
Stahl Vanessa,
Maier Florian,
Freitag Martin T.,
Floca Ralf O.,
Berger Moritz C.,
Umathum Reiner,
Berriel Diaz Mauricio,
Herzig Stephan,
Weber MarcAndré,
DimitrakopoulouStrauss Antonia,
Rink Kristian,
Bachert Peter,
Ladd Mark E.,
Nagel Armin M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.25364
Subject(s) - brown adipose tissue , skin temperature , adipose tissue , magnetic resonance imaging , in vivo , volunteer , nuclear medicine , chemistry , stimulation , nuclear magnetic resonance , medicine , zoology , biomedical engineering , endocrinology , biology , physics , radiology , agronomy , microbiology and biotechnology
Purpose To evaluate the volume and changes of human brown adipose tissue (BAT) in vivo following exposure to cold using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods The clavicular region of 10 healthy volunteers was examined with a 3T MRI system. One volunteer participated twice. A cooling vest that was circulated with temperature‐controlled water was used to expose each volunteer to a cold environment. Three different water temperature phases were employed: baseline (23°C, 20 min), cooling (12°C, 90 min), and a final warming phase (37°C, 30 min). Temperatures of the water in the circuit, of the body, and at the back skin of the volunteers were monitored with fiberoptic temperature probes. Applying the 2‐point DIXON pulse sequence every 5 minutes, fat fraction (FF) maps were determined and evaluated over time to distinguish between brown and white adipose tissue. Results Temperature measurements showed a decrease of 3.8 ± 1.0°C of the back skin temperature, while the body temperature stayed constant at 37.2 ± 0.9°C. Focusing on the two interscapular BAT depots, a mean FF decrease of –2.9 ± 2.0%/h ( P < 0.001) was detected during cold stimulation in a mean absolute volume of 1.31 ± 1.43 ml. Also, a correlation of FF decrease to back skin temperature decrease was observed in all volunteers (correlation coefficients: |r| = [0.51; 0.99]). Conclusion We found that FF decreases in BAT begin immediately with mild cooling of the body and continue during long‐time cooling. Level of Evidence: 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:369–380.