title: Differentiating brown and white adipose tissues by high-resolution diffusion NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: There are two types of fat tissues, white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), which essentially perform opposite functions in whole body energy metabolism. There is a large interest in identifying novel biophysical properties of WAT and BAT by a quantitative and easy-to-run technique. In this work, we used high-resolution pulsed field gradient diffusion NMR spectroscopy to study the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of fat molecules in rat BAT and WAT samples. The ADC of fat in BAT and WAT from rats fed with a chow diet was compared with that of rats fed with a high-fat diet to monitor how the diffusion properties change due to obesity-associated parameters such as lipid droplet size, fatty acid chain length, and saturation. Feeding a high-fat diet resulted in increased saturation, increased chain lengths, and reduced ADC of fat in WAT. The ADC of fat was lower in BAT relative to WAT in rats fed both chow and high-fat diets. Diffusion of fat was restricted in BAT due to the presence of small multilocular lipid droplets. Our findings indicate that in vivo diffusion might be a potential way for better delineation of BAT and WAT in both lean and obese states.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Sanjay Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Kaz
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Jadegoud
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yaligar
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Navin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Swee Shean
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Tian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xianfeng
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Venkatesh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gopalan
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Suresh Anand
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sadananthan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.
authors.forename: Rengaraj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anantharaj
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Imaging, Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore sendhil_velan@sbic.a-star.edu.sg.|Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.|Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: S Sendhil
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Velan
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats
keywords: adipose tissue; brown adipose tissue; diffusion spectroscopy; fat; high-fat diet; lipid droplet; magnetic resonance; white adipose tissue