Journal Facts

Journal
BoneKEy Knowledge Environment
ISSN
1940-8692
Volume
11
Year
2014

Article Facts

Title
Brown adipose tissue is a positive predictor of femoral bone structure
DOI
10.1038/bonekey.2014.64
Author
Online Date
08/06/2014

Article Links

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Brown adipose tissue is a positive predictor of femoral bone structure


DOI:10.1038/bonekey.2014.64

This study investigated a link between brown adipose tissue (BAT) and femoral bone structure, in 105 adult patients (19 male, 86 female) who underwent positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).

Participants were either having a PET/CT scan for a benign etiology, such as unexplained adenopathy or lung nodules, or were having a follow-up scan after completing successful cancer treatment. The volume of BAT in men was significantly higher than in women (23.3±19.2 vs 15.4±13.7 mL, P=0.04).

The volume of BAT present correlated positively with total femoral bone cross-sectional area (CSA) (r=0.22, P=0.03) and femoral cortical CSA (r=0.25, P=0.01). Moreover, BAT volume correlated positively with thigh muscle CSA and thigh subcutaneous fat CSA, even after controlling for gender, age, a history of malignancy and body mass index. This suggests that BAT volume in adults is a positive predictor of femoral bone structure and correlates positively with amount of thigh muscle and subcutaneous fat.

Editor’s comment: This is the first study to show that BAT volume in adults with and without a history of cancer is positively associated with muscle area and femoral bone structure. These results are important given that BAT and muscle cells arise from a common precursor cell; furthermore, these progenitors are shared with subcutaneous fat.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.