Abstract #2291

James J, Hertel J, Babsky A, Hekmatyar S, Jackson C, Bansal N

The effects of exogenous leptin on visceral and subcutaneous fat volume in the abdominal region and fat-to-water ratio in the liver of leptin-deficient obese mice were investigated by 1H MRI. Chemical shift selected fat and water 1H MRI of control and leptin treated mice were obtained one day prior to treatment and after seven days of treatment (0.3 mg/kg/day). Among all the parameters measured, hepatic fat-to-water ratio decreased most dramatically with treatment, whereas subcutaneous fat volume in the abdominal region did not change significantly. Noninvasive fat and water MRI may prove very useful for evaluating new drugs for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders.