Non-invasive methods for the assessment of brown adipose tissue in humans

Abstract

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a recently rediscovered tissue in people that has shown promise as a potential therapeutic target against obesity and its metabolic abnormalities. Reliable non-invasive assessment of BAT volume and activity is critical to allow evaluating its importance for metabolic control. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in combination with 2-deoxy-2-[¹⁸F]fluoroglucose (¹⁸F-FDG) administration is currently the most frequently used and most established method for the detection and quantification of activated BAT in humans. However, it involves radiation exposure and can only detect activated (e.g. after cold exposure), but not quiescent, BAT. Several alternative methods that overcome some of these limitations have been developed including different PET approaches, single-photon emission imaging, CT, magnetic resonance based approaches, contrast enhanced ultrasound, near infrared spectroscopy, and temperature assessment of fat depots containing brown adipocytes. The purpose of this review is to summarize and critically evaluate the currently available methods, which non-invasively probe various aspects of BAT biology, in order to assess BAT volume and/or metabolism. Although several of these methods show promise for the non-invasive assessment of BAT volume and function, further research is needed to optimize them to enable an accurate, reproducible, and practical means for the assessment of human BAT content and its metabolic function.

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