PET Imaging of Regional Variation in Insulin Sensitivity of Adipose Tissue in Humans
Completed
Conditions studied: Diabetes, Obesity
In brief
The purpose of this research study is to use a relatively new technology, called Positron Emission Tomography (PET), to study how insulin works on sugar in your body's fatty tissue. PET imaging is a way of obtaining a "metabolic image" of your internal organs. It does not involve surgery and is not a high risk process. It has been used successfully to study brain, heart and more recently, skeletal muscle. In this research study, we will use PET in combination with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), to study fatty tissues in healthy people who do not have diabetes. In the future, we plan to do similar PET/MRI studies in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and in individuals who are likely to develop T2DM. Fat tissue might have a lot to do with developing type 2 diabetes. First, it is well recognized that excess fatty tissues, especially the kind in your belly, increases risk for the development of T2DM, as well as affecting other ways the body uses insulin. Second, fatty tissue is a classic target tissue for the action of insulin, which regulates the use of sugar by fat cells and also regulates the release of fatty acids from fatty tissues. Third, studies in mice that lack fatty tissue, indicate that severe insulin resistance (lack of a normal response to insulin) can result. Other types of studies have shown that fatty tissues make proteins that affect your body's insulin and your appetite in good and bad ways. Yet despite this importance, we still lack techniques for the study of fatty tissue metabolism in humans.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00222768
- Run by
- University of Pittsburgh
- People needed
- 20
- Starts
- 2005-04-01
- Expected to finish
- 2006-12-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2008-02-18
Who can join
Age: 25 and older, up to 45. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- A thorough medical examination will be done at the screening examination. To be eligible for these studies, volunteers must be free of clinical evidence of cardiac, renal, hepatic, and vascular disease, or other major medical problems that would endanger the volunteers or compromise the scientific validity of the studies.
- We will recruit 20 volunteers (10 men and 10 women), non-obese (BMI 20 to 27 kg/m2), glucose tolerant, healthy volunteers, who are between the ages of 25 and 45 years old. Volunteers for this study must have a fasting glucose < 100 mg/dl; HbA1c < 5.7%; Hct > 34; fasting plasma insulin level < 12 µU/ml; ALT < 60; AST < 60; Alk phos < 150; TSH < 6; Trig < 150 mg/dl; Chol < 250; systolic BP < 140; diastolic BP < 90; negative family history (first-degree relatives) for type 2 DM; be in good health and not be taking any chronic medications known to affect adipose tissue metabolism or insulin sensitivity (e.g. glucocorticoids, thiazide diuretics).
You may not qualify if…
- Pregnant women and women who are currently breast-feeding will be excluded from study participation. Women will be checked for pregnancy (using a urine pregnancy test) at screening, within 24 hours prior to the DEXA scan and within 24 hours prior to each PET and MRI study. Previous difficulty with xylocaine or claustrophobia will exclude.
Where it is running
- University of Pittsburgh — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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