The use of infrared thermography in the measurement and characterization of brown adipose tissue activation

Infrared Thermography for Estimating Supraclavicular Skin Temperature and BAT Activity in Humans: A Systematic Review

“…When analyses were performed with absolute SST values, however, no correlation was detected. In other work, Martinez-Tellez et al (45) reported that SST at the end of the cold exposure correlated inversely with 18 F-FDG-determined BAT volume (r = −0.764; P = 0.006) but did not correlate at all with BAT activity as measured by 18 F-FDG uptake after cold exposure. In addition, when they performed their analysis using values for SST relative to the sternal skin temperature, the former negative correlation they originally saw disappeared, and the latter lack of any significant correlation remained.…”

“…However, the amount of active BAT present in humans is still questioned (50,51). Blondin et al (52) observed that the deep and cervical muscles showed a greater 18 F-FDG uptake than other skeletal muscles after cold exposure, with the Longus colli and sternocleidomastoid muscles returning the highest values in the upper body and after applying a fixed cooling protocol. In addition, Hanssen et al (53) found 18 F-FDG uptake by the scalene muscle to be higher than that seen in other skeletal muscles both before and after a 10-day cold-acclimation intervention and after applying an individualized cooling protocol.…”

“…OBESITY BIOLOGY AND INTEGRATED PHYSIOLOGY on the uptake of a glucose analogue, which is used to measure glucose uptake (quantitative measurement) or fractional FDG uptake in a reliable way (7). Alternative techniques for quantifying human BAT in vivo include PET/CT measurement of the uptake of 18 F-fluoro-6thia-heptadecanoic acid (8), 15 O-O 2 (9), 11 C-acetate (10), or adenosine (11), magnetic resonance imaging (12), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) (13), but these are expensive, and some also expose individuals to radiation. A safe, inexpensive, reliable gold standard for human BAT quantification in vivo is thus lacking, as are alternative techniques (6).…”

“…Among the eight studies that measured SST by IRT and that quantified BAT activity via an 18 F-FDG-PET/CT scan, four aimed to compare the two techniques (16,42,45,46); the remaining four did not examine the agreement between them. Thuzar et al (42) correlated the changes in SST by IRT following an intervention with the changes in 18 F-FDG uptake by BAT but reported no actual data regarding this finding. In another study by the same group (46), it was reported that SST measured by IRT after cold exposure positively correlated (r = 0.62; P = 0.03) with the BAT maximal standardized uptake of 18 F-FDG as measured by PET/CT.…”

“…Cold exposure leads to norepinephrine release by the sympathetic nervous system, which activates brown adipocytes to increase uncoupling protein 1 activity, thus generating heat (1). In 2009, several studies demonstrated the presence of metabolically active BAT in humans via the measurement of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose ( 18 F-FDG) uptake as determined by positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (PET/CT) scanning following exposure to cold (2)(3)(4). The high metabolic activity of BAT, and its ability to consume both glucose and fatty acids, suggest that it may have potential as a therapeutic target in the treatment of obesity (5).…”