Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Skeletal Muscle Disease
Published on: December 18, 2016
Muscle-associated triglyceride measured by computed tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy
D Enette Larson-Meyer1, Steven R Smith, Leonie K Heilbronn
1Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (Human Nutrition), Department 3354, College of Agriculture, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82071, USA. enette@uwyo.edu
Objective:
Muscle triglyceride can be assessed in vivo using computed tomography (CT) and 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), two techniques that are based on entirely different biophysical principles. Little is known, however, about the cross-correlation between these techniques and their test-retest reliability.
Research Methods And Procedures:
We compared mean muscle attenuation (MA) in soleus and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles measured by CT with intra- and extramyocellular lipids (IMCL and EMCL, respectively) measured by MRS in 51 volunteers (26 to 72 years of age, BMI = 25.5 to 39.3 kg/m2). MA of midthighs was also measured in a subset (n = 19). Test-retest measurements were performed by CT (n = 6) and MRS (n = 10) in separate sets of volunteers.
Results:
MA of soleus was significantly associated with IMCL (r = -0.64) and EMCL, which by multiple regression analysis was explained mostly by IMCL (p < 0.001) rather than EMCL (beta = -0.010, p = 0.94). Muscle triglyceride was lower in TA than in soleus, and MA of TA was significantly correlated with EMCL (r = -0.40) but not IMCL (r = -0.16). By CT, MA of midthighs was correlated with MA in soleus (r = 0.40, p = 0.07) and whole calf (r = 0.62, p < 0.05). Finally, both MA and IMCL were highly reliable in soleus (coefficient of variation = < 2% and 6.7%, respectively) and less reliable in TA (4% and 10%, respectively).
Discussion:
These results support the use of both CT and MRS as reliable methods for assessing skeletal muscle lipid.
