Longitudinal Evaluation of Intramyocellular Lipid (IMCL) in Tibialis Anterior (TA) Muscle of Ob/ob and Ob/- Control Mice Using a Cryogenic Surface Coil at 9.4 T and Correlation with Insulin Levels

Qiong Ye^1,2, Carsten Friedrich Danzer³, Alexander Fuchs¹, Wilhelm Krek³, Markus Rudin^1,2

Progress of intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) levels in tibialis anterior (TA) was investigated with 1H MRS on mouse of obesity model and correlated with insulin levels. In this work, reproducibility of single voxel 1H MRS, spatial heterogeneity of IMCL and influence of T2 relaxation were evaluated using a cryogenic transceiver RF coil. From the results, the ratios of IMCL/tCr in TA were significantly higher in ob/ob mice than in their age-matched ob/-lean controls at all ages studied while in ob/ob mice IMCL levels increased from weeks 11 to 16, and then decreased from weeks 17 to 25, while their age-matched lean controls show stable IMCL. A close correlation between IMCL/tCr and plasma insulin levels has been observed in ob/ob mice at the ages studied.