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Updated: Jun 17, 2025
Body Composition and Metabolic Caging Analysis in High Fat Fed Mice
Published on: May 24, 2018
DXA-Measured Abdominal Adipose Depots and Structural Brain Integrity in Postmenopausal Women
Zeinah Al-Darsani1,2, Hailey R Banack3, Mallory N Ziegler4
1Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California, Irvine, CA.
Background:
This study extends prior research from the MRI substudy of the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS-MRI) linking BMI to reduced brain atrophy and ischemic lesion load by examining DXA-based measurements of total body fat, total abdominal adipose tissue (TAT), abdominal visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissue, gynoid fat, and overall leg fat.
Methods:
The analytic sample consisted of 61 postmenopausal women (baseline mean age 69.5 [3.6]) enrolled in WHIMS-MRI who had undergone DXA scans. DXA scans were completed at years 0, 3, and 6, and MRI scans were conducted ~8 years after baseline. Adjusted linear regression models were used to analyze the association between adiposity averaged across the 3-time points and volumes of brain regions previously linked to dementia.
Results:
Higher levels of total body fat, TAT, VAT, SAT, gynoid, and overall leg fat were associated with larger hippocampal volume (β 0.02 [95% CI, 0.004-0.04]; 0.11 [0.02-0.21]; 0.26 [0.04-0.47]; 0.18 [0.03-0.33]; 0.18 [0.05-0.30]; 0.07 [0.009-0.12], respectively). No other significant associations were observed.
Conclusion:
Higher levels of adiposity were positively associated with hippocampal volume. Additional research with larger sample sizes is needed to ascertain the significance of this association.
