Rs9939609 Variant of the Fat Mass and Obesity-Associated Gene and Trunk Obesity in Adolescents

A common T/A polymorphism (rs9939609) in the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene was found associated with early-onset and severe obesity in both adults and children. However, recent observations failed to find associations of FTO with obesity. To investigate the genetic background of early obesity, we analysed the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs9939609 of FTO in 371 styrian adolescents towards degree of obesity, subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT)-distribution determined by lipometry, early metabolic and preatherosclerotic symptoms. The percentage of AA homozygotes for the rs9939609 SNP of FTO was significantly increased in the obese adolescents. Compared to the TT wildtype, AA homozygotes showed significantly elevated values of SAT thickness at the trunk-located lipometer measure points neck and frontal chest, body weight, body mass index, waist, and hip circumference. No associations were found with carotis communis intima media thickness, systolic, diastolic blood pressure, ultrasensitive C-reactive protein (US-CRP), homocystein, total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, oxidized LDL, fasted glucose, insulin, HOMA-index, liver transaminases, uric acid, and adipokines like resistin, leptin, and adiponectin. Taken together, to the best of our knowledge we are the first to report that the rs9939609 FTO SNP is associated with trunk weighted obesity as early as in adolescence

Subcutaneous Fat Patterns in Type-2 Diabetic Men and Healthy Controls

The optical device LIPOMETER enables the non-invasive, quick, and save determination of the thickness of subcutaneous adipose tissue layers at any given site of the human body. The specification of 15 evenly distributed body sites allows the precise measurement of subcutaneous body fat distribution, so-called subcutaneous adipose tissue topography (SAT-Top). In the present paper we focus on SAT-Top of male type-2 diabetes patients (N=21), describing very precisely their special SAT development and their SAT-Top deviation from a healthy control group (N=111), applying factor analysis and ROC curves. Factor analysis revealed three independent subcutaneous body fat compartments, which can be summarised as »upper body«, »lower trunk« and »legs«. The upper body SAT-Top is much more pronounced in diabetic men compared to their healthy controls (p<0.001). Furthermore, high diagnostic power by ROC curve analysis was achieved by different measurement sites of the upper body and summary measures of upper body obesity (sum2, which is the sum of neck and biceps, provides: area index = 0.86, sensitivity = 81 %, specificity = 90.1 %, at an optimal cutoff value of 18.8 mm), ascribing a higher diabetes probability to subjects with a more upper body SAT-Top pattern. Calculating new ROC curves for diabetic patients with HBA1C values >8 (N=17) and their healthy controls (N=111) we received improved discrimination power for several SAT-Top body sites, especially for sum2, showing an area index of 0.91, a sensitivity of 94.1 %, and a specificity of 90.1 % at the optimal cutoff value of 18.8 mm. Concluding, the exact and complete description of the especial type 2 diabetic SAT pattern, which differs strongly from the SAT-Top of healthy controls, suggests the LIPOMETER technique combined with advanced statistical methods such as factor analysis and ROC curve analysis as a possible detecting tool for this disease

Effects of a Hyperbaric Environment on Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue Topography (SAT-Top)

The physiological reactions of the body in scuba diving situation can be simulated in a pressure chamber by increasing the ambient pressure. In this study the influence of a hyperbaric environment of 6 bar on the changes of the subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) thicknesses on different body sites in 68 voluntary men with undersea diving experience was investigated. Measurements of SAT-Topography (SAT-Top) were performed with the optical device Lipometer before and after hyperbaric exposure. We observed a significant increase of the SAT-layers of the upper body zones, upper abdomen (+24.5%), lower abdomen (+21%) and front chest (+19%) after hyperbaric exposure. This increase of volume can be assumed to the nitrogen accumulation in fat cells at increased ambient pressures. In conclusion we describe for the first time in detail the influence of a hyperbaric environment on quantitative and topographic changes of SAT