Assessment of brown adipose tissue density in children and pregnant women and investigation of factors affecting brown adipose tissue

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K20123
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 59040:Nutrition science and health science-related
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: Miyuki Kuroiwa 東京医科大学, 医学部, 兼任助教 (40710091)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 褐色脂肪組織 / こども / 女性 / 妊婦 / 授乳婦 / 乳幼児 / 児童 / 近赤外時間分解分光法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Brown adipose tissue has been found to increase energy expenditure and improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity and has attracted attention as an indicator for obesity and lifestyle-related disease prevention. However, brown adipose tissue activity is usually measured using FDG-PET/CT, which is highly invasive and unsuitable for infants, children, pregnant women, and mothers. The use of near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy has made it possible to measure brown adipose tissue density non-invasively and easily at any age and condition. In this study, we (1) evaluated brown adipose tissue density in infants and children, pregnant women and postpartum mothers, which had been difficult to measure and (2) investigated factors related to lifestyle and humoral factors that affect brown adipose tissue density.

Free Research Field

褐色脂肪組織

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で用いた近赤外時間分解分光法は、侵襲なく褐色脂肪組織を測定することができ、未成年者や妊・褥婦も測定できる。未成年者を対象にすることで、成長や加齢に伴う褐色脂肪組織の変化を評価でき、またそれに関連する因子の同定が可能となる。これは小児肥満の予防だけでなく、その後の中高年肥満、代謝性疾患の予防に応用できる可能性がある。また、妊娠・産褥期の女性を測定した研究も存在しない。非妊時糖代謝が正常な女性でも、1割以上の女性が妊娠糖尿病になる可能性がある。これには糖代謝やインスリン感受性に関連のある褐色脂肪組織が関連していることも考えられ、本研究は妊娠糖尿病予防策の検討にも貢献できる可能性がある。