| dc.description.abstract | Activation of brown adipose tissue in mice, through the use of the amino acid
leucine, was investigated. Brown adipose tissue has become a topic of interest in
recent years, as activation of this tissue has been proposed as a potential target
for obesity and type 2 diabetes treatment. This is because activation requires
large amounts of energy, as well as circulating glucose, and stores of
triglycerides. Previous work involving brown adipose tissue activation focuses on
drugs with a known beta-adrenergic stimulus, which is one method of activation
of brown adipose tissue, but few focus on potential dietary treatment. In order to
assess activation due to leucine, 18F-FDG uptake was measured using positron
emission tomography after treatment with leucine. Using an analysis method of
calculating standardized uptake value and maximum standardized uptake value,
the level of 18F-FDG uptake was quantified and used to judge activation. It was
shown that leucine causes an additional increase to brown adipose tissue
activation in a hyperglycaemic state. This finding opens the door for future
research involving the method of action of leucine or testing if leucine treatment
has the potential to treat hyperglycaemia. | en_US |
