Gavin Hamilton1, Daniel L. Smith2,
Mark Bydder1, Krishna
1Department of Radiology,
University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States; 2Department
of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL,
United States; 3Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, University
of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
We explored the MR signatures of brown adipose tissue (BAT) compared to white adipose tissue (WAT) using single-voxel STEAM 1H MR spectroscopy on a 3 Tesla clinical whole body scanner from excised murine adipose tissue samples. Spectra were acquired at multiple TEs and TIs to measure the T1, T2, and T2-corrected individual fat and water peak areas. A theoretical triglyceride model characterized the multi-peak fat spectra. The water fraction in BAT was higher compared to WAT and the T1 of water was lower in BAT compared to WAT. BAT also contained lower levels of unsaturated triglycerides in comparison to WAT.