Brown Adipose Tissue May Protect Against Metabolic Dysfunction

More than one-third of United States adults have metabolic syndrome (MetS). This syndrome, comprised of a set of metabolic dysfunctions, has been demonstrated to increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the US. Animals without brown adipose tissue develop metabolic dysfunctions. This leads directly to the hypothesis that humans without BAT have increased numbers of metabolic dysfunctions than those with BAT.

A total of 109 men and 69 women, aged 17.6-88.3 years, who underwent clinical FDG-PET/CT were enrolled into the study. Anthropometric, vital sign and laboratory assessments including: weight, weight, waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressures, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglycerides (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) were obtained. FDG-PET/CTs were examined for the presence of BAT. Independent t-tests and logistic regression analyses were performed.

Seven subjects with observable BAT (29% male) were identified. Those with BAT were younger, had smaller WC, higher SBP and lower TG than those without BAT. Age stratified logistic regression analysis was performed. Younger age (p=0.02) was shown to be statistically significant and fewer metabolic dysfunctions (p=0.08) trended towards significance with identification of BAT.

Those with BAT appear to have fewer metabolic dysfunctions than those without BAT, however the study is not adequately powered to account for the effect of age. Future recruitment is anticipated to increase the sample size and diversity with respect to gender.