In vivo noninvasive detection of Brown Adipose Tissue through intermolecular zero-quantum MRI

The recent discovery of active Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) in adult humans has opened new avenues for obesity research and treatment, as reduced BAT activity seem to be implicated in human energy imbalance, diabetes, and hypertension. However, clinical applications are currently limited by the lack o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-09, Vol.8 (9), p.e74206-e74206
Main Authors: Branca, Rosa T, Zhang, Le, Warren, Warren S, Auerbach, Edward, Khanna, Arjun, Degan, Simone, Ugurbil, Kamil, Maronpot, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adipocytes
Adipose tissue
Adipose tissue (brown)
Adipose Tissue, Brown - diagnostic imaging
Adipose Tissue, Brown - pathology
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Animal tissues
Animals
Biomedical research
Body fat
Cellular structure
Chemistry
Coherence
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes therapy
Fatty acids
Feasibility studies
Female
Fluorodeoxyglucose F18
Histology
Humans
Hypertension
Image processing
Magnetic resonance
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Medical imaging
Metabolism
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Mice, Nude
Middle Aged
Obesity
Phantoms, Imaging
Positron emission
Positron-Emission Tomography
Quantum phenomena
Quantum Theory
Radiography
Rodents
Therapeutic applications
Thermogenesis
Tomography
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Summary:The recent discovery of active Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) in adult humans has opened new avenues for obesity research and treatment, as reduced BAT activity seem to be implicated in human energy imbalance, diabetes, and hypertension. However, clinical applications are currently limited by the lack of non-invasive tools for measuring mass and function of this tissue in humans. Here we present a new magnetic resonance imaging method based on the normally invisible intermolecular multiple-quantum coherence (1)H MR signal. This method, which doesn't require special hardware modifications, can be used to overcome partial volume effect, the major limitation of MR-based approaches that are currently being investigated for the detection of BAT in humans. With this method we can exploit the characteristic cellular structure of BAT to selectively image it, even when (as in humans) it is intimately mixed with other tissues. We demonstrate and validate this method in mice using PET scans and histology. We compare this methodology with conventional (1)H MR fat fraction methods. Finally, we investigate its feasibility for the detection of BAT in humans.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0074206