Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Cold Exposure Induces Dynamic, Heterogeneous Alterations In Human Brown Adipose Tissue Lipid Content, Crystal L. Coolbaugh, Bruce M. Damon, Emily C. Bush, E Brian Welch, Theodore F. Towse

Peer Reviewed Articles

Brown adipose tissue undergoes a dynamic, heterogeneous response to cold exposure that can include the simultaneous synthesis, uptake, and oxidation of fatty acids. The purpose of this work was to quantify these changes in brown adipose tissue lipid content (fat-signal fraction (FSF)) using fat-water magnetic resonance imaging during individualized cooling to 3 °C above a participant’s shiver threshold. Eight healthy men completed familiarization, perception-based cooling, and MRI-cooling visits. FSF maps of the supraclavicular region were acquired in thermoneutrality and during cooling (59.5 ± 6.5 min). Brown adipose tissue regions of interest were defined, and voxels were grouped into FSF decades …

Anisotropic Smoothing Improves Dt-Mri-Based Muscle Fiber Tractography, Amanda K W Buck, Zhaohua Ding, Christopher P. Elder, Theodore F. Towse, Bruce M. Damon

Peer Reviewed Articles

Purpose

To assess the effect of anisotropic smoothing on fiber tracking measures, including pennation angle, fiber tract length, and fiber tract number in the medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscle in healthy subjects using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI).

Materials and Methods

3T DW-MRI data were used for muscle fiber tractography in the MG of healthy subjects. Anisotropic smoothing was applied at three levels (5%, 10%, 15%), and pennation angle, tract length, fiber tract number, fractional anisotropy, and principal eigenvector orientation were quantified for each smoothing level.

Results

Fiber tract length increased with pre-fiber tracking smoothing, and local heterogeneities in fiber direction …

In Vivo Human Skeletal Muscle Glycogen Measured By Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (Glycocest) And 13C Mrs At 7t, Theodore Towse, Adienne Dula, Samuel Bearden, Edward Welch, James Joers, Seth Smith, Bruce Damon

Peer Reviewed Articles

CEST is a molecular imaging technique that allows indirect detection of protons associated with mobile proteins. GlycoCEST is a variant of CEST for imaging tissue glycogen, the storage form of glucose. With glycoCEST, the -OH protons of glycogen are saturated, transfer the saturation to bulk water by way of chemical exchange which reduces the bulk water signal in proportion to the glycogen content. the purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of glycoCEST imaging in human skeletal muscle at 7T. Our findings, although preliminary, suggest that glycoCEST imaging at 7T can be used to image muscle glycogen.