Types of fat in the heart
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Myocardial Lipid Compartments in Type 2 Diabetes (Types of fat in the Heart)
IRAS ID
339891
Contact name
Dana Dawson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
., .
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Athletes are super healthy compared to patients with type 2 diabetes, but both have increased fat storage in muscle: the so-called “athlete’s paradox”. It is likely that this fat has different characteristics in athletes and patients with type 2 diabetes. We previously showed that a high level of storage and usage of the so-called “bad” (saturated) fat inside the leg muscles is a sign of better health, which was surprising and unexpected. In this work we wish to obtain essential pilot data to allow us to extend our investigation to the heart muscle, which works continuously and is under higher demand for energy production. Having perfected the imaging sequence to obtain data form the hearts of n=15 healthy volunteers, we now wish to scan 15 patients with type 2 diabetes to see if the balance of saturated/unsaturated fat in their heart muscle tracks with the findings we previously observed in their skeletal muscle.
REC name
South Central - Oxford A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0228
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion