Infrared Thermography for the Detection of Changes in Brown Adipose Tissue Activity.

Measuring brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity by positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET-CT) via the accumulation of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) after a meal or in obese or diabetic patients fails as the method of choice. The main reason is that 18F-FDG competes with the postprandial high glucose plasma concentration for the same glucose transporter on the membrane of BAT cells. In addition, BAT uses fatty acids as a source of energy as well, which is not visible with PET-CT and could be changed along with glucose concentration in obese and diabetic patients. Therefore, to estimate the physiological importance of BAT in animals and humans, a new infrared thermography method used in recent publications is applied. After overnight fasting, BAT activity was measured by infrared thermography before and after a meal in human volunteers and female wild-type mice. The camera software calculates the object's temperature using distance from the object, skin emissivity, reflected room temperature, air temperature, and relative humidity. In mice, the shaved area above the BAT was a region of interest for which average and maximal temperatures were measured. The phase of the estrous cycle in female mice was determined after an experiment by vaginal smears stained with cresyl violet (0.1%) stain solution. In healthy volunteers, two skin areas of the neck were selected: the supraclavicular area (above the collarbone, where BAT cells are present) and the interclavicular area (between the collarbones, where there is no BAT tissue detected). BAT activity is determined by the subtraction of those two values. Also, the average and maximal temperatures of skin areas could be determined in animals and human participants. Changes in BAT activity after a meal measured by infrared thermography, a non-invasive and more sensitive method, were shown to be sex, age, and phase of the estrous cycle dependent in laboratory animals. As part of diet-induced thermogenesis, BAT activation in humans was also proven to be sex, age, and body mass index dependent. Further determining the pathophysiological changes in BAT activity after a meal will be of great importance for participants with high glucose plasma concentrations (obesity and diabetes mellitus type 2), as well as in different laboratory animals (knock-out mice). This method is also a variable tool for determining possible activating drugs that could rejuvenate BAT activity.

The use of infrared technology as a novel approach for studies with female laboratory animals.

AIM: To determine the changes in skin temperature and brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity throughout the estrous cycle as well as the regularity of the estrous cycle in mice. METHODS: We assessed the differences in the duration of the estrous cycle and its phases between 3- and 8-month-old female mice (n=18). Skin temperature and BAT activity were measured by infrared technology and compared with human menstrual cycle. RESULTS: Young and old female mice did not differ significantly in the estrous cycle length. However, young animals had longer diestrus and shorter proestrus phase. In contrast with women, mice showed age-dependent changes in body temperature and BAT activity during the estrus cycle. CONCLUSION: Establishing the pattern of temperature and BAT activity changes could be used to determine the estrous cycle phase before performing experiments without disturbing the animal. However, since the regulation of BAT activity during the estrous cycle was age-dependent, very complex, and varied significantly from women, further studies are needed to develop a non-invasive method for determining the phase of the estrous cycle.

Activation of brown adipose tissue in diet-induced thermogenesis is GC-C dependent.

Uroguanylin (UGN) is released from the intestine after a meal. When applied in brain ventricles, UGN increases expression of markers of thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Therefore, we determine the effects of its receptor, guanylate cyclase C (GC-C), on mouse interscapular BAT (iBAT) activity during diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT). The activation of iBAT after a meal is diminished in GC-C KO mice, decreased in female wild type (WT) mice, and abolished in old WT animals. The activation of iBAT after a meal is the highest in male WT animals which leads to an increase in GC-C expression in the hypothalamus, an increase in iBAT volume by aging, and induction of iBAT markers of thermogenesis. In contrast to iBAT activation after a meal, iBAT activation after a cold exposure could still exist in GC-C KO mice and it is significantly higher in female WT mice. The expression of GC-C in the proopiomelanocortin neurons of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus but not in iBAT suggests central regulation of iBAT function. The iBAT activity during DIT has significantly reduced in old mice but an intranasal application of UGN leads to an increase in iBAT activity in a dose-dependent manner which is in strong negative correlation to glucose concentration in blood. This activation was not present in GC-C KO mice. Our results suggest the physiological role of GC-C on the BAT regulation and its importance in the regulation of glucose homeostasis and the development of new therapy for obesity and insulin resistance.