Phenotyping of the Visceral Adipose Tissue Using Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in Pigs

Abstract

The objective of this study was to phenotype visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in pigs. In this context, the ability to detect VAT by using the DXA CoreScan mode within the enCORE software, version 17 (GE Healthcare) was evaluated in comparison with MRI measurements (Siemens Magnetom C!) of the same body region. A number of 120 crossbred pigs of the F1 and F2 generation, with the parental breeds Large White, Landrace, Piétrain, and Duroc, were examined at an age of 150 days. A whole-body scan in two different modes (“thick”, “standard”) was carried out by a GE Lunar iDXA scanner. Very strong relationships (R2 = 0.95, RMSE = 175 cm3) were found for VAT between the two DXA modes. The comparison of VAT measured by MRI and DXA shows high linear relationships (“thick”: R2 = 0.76, RMSE = 399.25 cm3/“standard”: R2 = 0.71, RMSE = 443.42 cm3), but is biased, according to the Bland–Altman analysis. A variance analysis of VAT shows significant differences for both DXA modes and for MRI between male and female pigs, as well as between F1 and F2. In conclusion, DXA “CoreScan” has the ability to estimate VAT in pigs with a close relationship to MRI but needs bias correction.