title: The visualisation and quantification of human gastrointestinal fat distribution with MRI: a randomised study in healthy subjects.
abstract: We aimed to study the fate of fat during digestion. For this purpose, we validated and investigated the non-invasive quantification of gastric and duodenal fat emptying and emulsion processing (creaming and phase separation) using the MRI method iterative decomposition with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation (IDEAL). In total, twelve healthy subjects were studied on two separate visits in a single-blind, randomised, cross-over design study. IDEAL was utilised to repeatedly acquire quantitative fat fraction maps of the gastrointestinal tract after infusion of one of two fat emulsions: E1 (acid stable, droplet size 0·33 mm) and E4 (acid unstable, 0·38 mm). In vitro and in vivo validation was carried out using diluted emulsion and gastric content samples, respectively, and resulted in Lin's concordance correlation coefficients of 1·00 (95% CI 0·98, 1·00) and 0·91 (95% CI 0·87, 0·94), respectively. Fat fraction maps and intragastric emulsion profiles enabled the identification of features of intraluminal phase separation and creaming that were not visible in conventional MRI. Gastric fat emptying was faster for E4 compared with E1 with a difference of 2·5 (95% CI 1·9, 3·1) ml/h. Duodenal content volumes were larger for E1 than for E4 with a difference of 4·9 (95% CI 3·9, 8·5) ml. This study demonstrated that with IDEAL it was possible (1) to visualise the intragastric and duodenal fat distribution and (2) to quantify the differences in emptying, phase separation and creaming of an acid-stable and an acid-unstable emulsion. This method has potential to bridge the gap between current in vitro digestive models and in vivo behaviour and to be applied in the development of effective functional foods.
authors.affiliation: 1Institute for Biomedical Engineering,University and ETH Zurich,Gloriastrasse 35,8092 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 2Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,University Hospital Zurich,Raemisstrasse 100,8091 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Helen L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: 1Institute for Biomedical Engineering,University and ETH Zurich,Gloriastrasse 35,8092 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Curcic
authors.affiliation: 2Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,University Hospital Zurich,Raemisstrasse 100,8091 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schwizer
authors.affiliation: 2Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology,University Hospital Zurich,Raemisstrasse 100,8091 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.affiliation: 1Institute for Biomedical Engineering,University and ETH Zurich,Gloriastrasse 35,8092 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kozerke
authors.affiliation: 1Institute for Biomedical Engineering,University and ETH Zurich,Gloriastrasse 35,8092 Zurich,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steingoetter
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism*; D004063:Digestion; D005260:Female; D005746:Gastric Emptying; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000378:metabolism*; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats
keywords: Biophysics of fat digestion; FCV fat content volume; GI gastrointestinal; Gastric physiology; Gastrointestinal function; Healthy subjects; IDEAL iterative decomposition with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation; Lipid emulsions; MRI; TCV total content volumes; Water–fat separation