NCT04352244

The Physiology of Human Brown Adipose Tissue

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 75 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Brown fat is a type of fat, found in both children and adults, which can produce heat and regulate the body's metabolism and energy use. White fat is the more common type of fat which is used to store extra calories. Understanding more about differences between brown and white fat may allow us to develop new approaches to improve the body's metabolism.

Detailed description

The overarching goal of this study, is to map fat (adipose) tissue differences in humans. The investigators will probe multiple aspects of fat cell (adipocyte) identity by integrating quantitative chemical imaging, single-cell and single-nucleus RNA sequencing (sc and snRNAseq), and site-specific collection of adipocytes and adipocyte precursors. Deidentified data from these studies will be submitted to the Human Cell Atlas. The investigators anticipate that these studies will ultimately increase understanding of mechanisms by which fat (adipose) tissue regulates systemic metabolism (energy transformation in the body), and promotes risk for metabolic disease. Knowledge gained from this research may be used to set the stage for disease-specific analyses, and aid in the development of personalized medicine for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Conditions

• Adipose Tissue, Brown
• Adipose Tissue
• Obesity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Fat biopsy	The fat biopsy is performed during a scheduled procedure at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Routine preoperative procedures will be followed, including local anesthesia (numbing a particular region of the body) or general anesthesia (being put to sleep). Adipose tissue will be sampled from different depots depending on the procedure. For example, the surgeon will collect adipose tissue from the neck and supraclavicular depots from cervical spine, thyroid, and parathyroid procedures; perinephric fat from adrenalectomies, omental fat from abdominal procedures, and paraspinal fat from lumbar spine procedures. Up to 5 pieces of fat tissue weighing about three to six grams will be removed. All other aspects of the surgical procedure will proceed as planned. Samples will be prepared for subsequent laboratory analysis.
DIAGNOSTIC_TEST	Blood sampling	A blood sample will be collected in the fasting state either during preoperative testing or in the preoperative area on the day of planned procedure for measurement of adipose functional markers (leptin, adiponectin) and insulin resistance (insulin, C-peptide), and measures of glycemia (glucose, hemoglobin A1c).
GENETIC	Blood sample for DNA analysis	Targeted resequencing of DNA to identify variants associated with adipose phenotypes will be performed.

Timeline

• Start date: 2020-03-05
• Primary completion: 2027-06-30
• Completion: 2027-06-30
• First posted: 2020-04-20
• Last updated: 2025-10-31

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States