A percutaneous needle biopsy technique for sampling the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue depot of humans.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been proposed as a potential target tissue against obesity and its related metabolic complications. Although the molecular and functional characteristics of BAT have been intensively studied in rodents, only a few studies have used human BAT specimens due to the difficulty of sampling human BAT deposits. We established a novel positron emission tomography and computed tomography-guided Bergström needle biopsy technique to acquire human BAT specimens from the supraclavicular area in human subjects. Forty-three biopsies were performed on 23 participants. The procedure was tolerated well by the majority of participants. No major complications were noted. Numbness (9.6%) and hematoma (2.3%) were the two minor complications noted, which fully resolved. Thus, the proposed biopsy technique can be considered safe with only minimal risk of adverse events. Adoption of the proposed method is expected to increase the sampling of the supraclavicular BAT depot for research purposes so as to augment the scientific knowledge of the biology of human BAT.
Metabolism Unit, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
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Chondronikola
Department of Interventional Radiology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Annamalai
Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Chao
Metabolism Unit, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Porter
Metabolism Unit, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Saraf
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Cesani
Metabolism Unit, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Nutrition and Metabolism, Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece.|Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Sealy Center on Aging, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.|Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
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Sidossis
D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000379:methods*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography; D022722:Thermogenesis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed