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. 2013 May 8;8(5):e63391.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063391. Print 2013.

Prevalence, mass, and glucose-uptake activity of ¹⁸F-FDG-detected brown adipose tissue in humans living in a temperate zone of Italy

Agnese Persichetti  1 , Rosa Sciuto, Sandra Rea, Sabrina Basciani, Carla Lubrano, Stefania Mariani, Salvatore Ulisse, Italo Nofroni, Carlo Ludovico Maini, Lucio Gnessi
Affiliations

Prevalence, mass, and glucose-uptake activity of ¹⁸F-FDG-detected brown adipose tissue in humans living in a temperate zone of Italy

Agnese Persichetti et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (¹⁸F-FDG)-detected brown adipose tissue (BAT), is enhanced by cold stimulus and modulated by other factors that still have to be disentangled. We investigated the prevalence, mass, and glucose-uptake activity of ¹⁸F-FDG-detected BAT in a population of adults living in the temperate climatic zone of the Rome area.

Methods and findings: We retrospectively analyzed 6454 patients who underwent ¹⁸F-FDG positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) examinations. We found ¹⁸F-FDG BAT in 217 of the 6454 patients (3.36%). Some of them underwent more than one scan and the positive scans were 278 among 8004 (3.47%). The prevalence of patients with at least one positive scan was lower in men (1.77%; 56 of 3161) compared with women (4.88%; 161 of 3293). The BAT positive patients were most frequently younger, thinner and with lower plasma glucose levels compared with BAT negative patients. The amount of BAT in the defined region of interest, the activity of BAT and the number of positive sites of active BAT were similar in both sexes. The prevalence of patients with ¹⁸F-FDG positive PET/CT was highest in December-February, lower in March-May and September-November, and lowest in June-August and was positively correlated with night length and negatively correlated with ambient temperature. Changes in day length and variations of temperature, associated with the prevalence of positive BAT patients. Among the patients who had multiple scans, outdoor temperature was significantly lower and day length was shorter on the occasion when BAT was detected.

Conclusions: This study identifies day length, outdoor temperature, age, sex, BMI, and plasma glucose levels as major determinants of the prevalence, mass, and activity of ¹⁸F-FDG-detected BAT.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Prevalence of detectable BAT in men and women.
The bars show the percentage of 18F-FDG males and females positive BAT in a total population of 6454 patients (3293 women and 3161 men). ★, p<0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Mass, activity and number of BAT positive depots in men and women and effect of age on the occurrence of BAT.
Panel A shows the mass of BAT in grams. Panel B shows the activity of BAT in grams times the mean SUV value in grams per milliliter. Panel C shows the number of BAT positive depots. The box plots indicate the lower quartile (lower line), median quartile (middle line), upper quartile (upper line), 1.5 times the interquartile range (lower and upper whiskers), and outliers (circles). Patients were divided into decades. The mean ± S.D. of activity (D), mass (E) and number of BAT positive depots (F) in each decade is shown.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Seasonal variation in the occurrence of BAT.
Panel A shows the percentage of BAT positive patients referred to the total population scanned in the indicated period. Panel B shows the activity of BAT in grams times the mean SUV value in grams per milliliter of the positive patients referred to the period indicated. Panel C shows the number of BAT positive depots referred to the period indicated. Significant effect of period assessed by either Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney U test (★ p<0.01) or X2 test (★★ p<0.001).
Figure 4
Figure 4. Average monthly mean values of 18F-FDG BAT.
Prevalence (•) for the period January 2007-June 2010 and corresponding average minimum outdoor temperature (▴) and day length (♦).
Figure 5
Figure 5. Monthly 18F-FDG BAT.
Prevalence (•) of the monthly 18F-FDG BAT for the period January 2007–June 2010 and corresponding minimum outdoor temperature (▴) and day length (♦).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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