Abstract: Presence of brown adipose tissue may decrease risk for developing metabolic syndrome (2011 SACNAS National Conference)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Hall 1-2 (San Jose Convention Center)

Kolenya Holly , Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT

Patrick Bell, BS , University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Jaci Skidmore, BS , Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Casey Tak , Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

M. Nazeem Nanjee, PhD , Cardiovascular Genetics Research Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Nicole Mihalopoulos, MD/MPH , Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States. People with metabolic syndrome (MetS) have increased risk for developing CVD. Those with excess adiposity have increased risk for developing MetS. Mice lacking brown adipose tissue (BAT) develop MetS. We hypothesized that individuals with BMI>=25 and deficient in BAT are more likely to have MetS.

We enrolled 27 men and 13 women, aged 21.6-83.8 yrs, who underwent clinical FDG-PET/CT. We measured height, weight, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL). FDG-PET/CTs were examined for the presence of BAT.

There were 27 subjects with BMI>=25 (63% males). The 2 subjects with observable BAT (50% male) had BMI<20, and each had only 1 criterion for MetS. Among those without BAT (58% male), 23 had 1-2 criteria for MetS (61% male) and 12 had >=3 criteria (69% male). For those with MetS vs those without MetS, mean (±SD) BMI was 29.6±3.9 vs 27.2±6.3 (p=0.15), respectively; FPG did not differ significantly between the two groups. As expected, subjects with MetS compared to those without MetS had raised TG (204.8±63.9 vs 125.3±90.2, p<0.05) and lower HDL (41.8±17.4 vs 54.6±14.6, p<0.05).

Those with BAT are less likely to have MetS and have lower BMI than those without BAT. Because none of the subjects with BMI>=25 had observable BAT, we are unable to determine if BAT is protective against MetS in overweight and obese people.