The contribution of brown adipose tissue to energy expenditure
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Quantifying the contribution of brown adipose tissue and muscle to cold-induced energy expenditure in humans
IRAS ID
212298
Contact name
Roland H Stimson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
The recent discovery of brown adipose tissue in humans offers the possibility of activating this tissue to promote weight loss as a novel treatment for obesity. However, little is known about how much this tissue contributes to energy expenditure during cold exposure in humans. We plan to quantify how much brown adipose tissue contributes to cold-induced energy expenditure in lean and obese humans. Subjects will be given a specially labelled radioactive form of sugar (18fluorodeoxyglucose) during cold exposure prior to undergoing a PET/MRI scan to identify and quantify their active brown adipose tissue. Thereafter, veins draining brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle and an artery in the wrist will be cannulated, and microdialysis catheters placed in skeletal muscle, brown adipose tissue and white adipose tissue in order to measure energy expenditure by each depot. Energy expenditure by the different tissues and by the whole body will be measured during warm and cold exposure to quantify how much heat each of these tissues generates during cold exposure and determine how these tissues generate this heat.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 01
REC reference
17/SS/0036
Date of REC Opinion
28 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion