Zhongwei Qiao1, 2, Peng Cao1, 2, Iris Y. Zhou1, 2, Shujuan Fan1, 2, Matthew M. Cheung1, 2, Jevin W. Zhang1, 2, Ed X. Wu1, 2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
The relationship between accumulation of intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) in skeletal muscle and insulin resistance is not well understood at present time. IMCL storage in skeletal muscles depends on lipid oxidative capacity and fatty acid flux rate. With dynamic 1H-MRS and creatine as the internal reference, a muscle type dependent IMCL storage at resting state was observed and quantified in this study. Such functional IMCL storage quantified by dynamic 1H-MRS could be used as an indicator for studying and probing the dynamic balance between IMCL synthesis and utilization during lipid metabolism in both animal models and humans in vivo.