Abstract
Purpose
23Na MRI demonstrated increased tissue sodium concentrations in a number of pathologies. Acute atrophy results in muscle fibre volume shrinking that may result in a relative increase of extracellular volume and might affect sodium concentration. Thus, we hypothesized that local unloading of the calf muscles would lead to a decrease in muscle volume and an increase in muscle tissue sodium concentration.
Method
One lower leg of 12 healthy male subjects was submitted to a 60 day long period of unloading using the Hephaistos orthosis, while the other leg served as control. 23Na MRI and 2D PD-weighted Dixon turbo spin echo were obtained from the control and orthosis leg using a 3T scanner. For quantification, a sodium reference phantom was used with 10, 20, 30, and 40 mmol/L NaCl solution.
Result
Tissue sodium concentration (TSC) increased as an effect of unloading in the orthosis leg. Relative increases were 17.4 ± 16.8% (P = 0.005) in gastrocnemius medialis muscle, 11.1 ± 12.5 (P = 0.037) in gastrocnemius lateralis muscle, 16.2 ± 4.7% (P < 0.001) in soleus muscle, 10.0 ± 10.5% (P = 0.009) in the ventral muscle group, and 10.7 ± 10.0% (P = 0.003) in the central muscle group, respectively. TSC in the control leg did not significantly change. In the orthosis leg, muscle volume decreased as follows: medial gastrocnemius muscle: −5.4 ± 8.3% (P = 0.043) and soleus muscle: −7.8 ± 15.0% (P = 0.043).
Conclusion
Unloading atrophy is associated with an increase in muscle sodium concentration. 23Na MRI is capable of detecting these rather small changes.
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Abbreviations
- FoV:
-
Field of view (FoV)
- LME:
-
Linear mixed effects
- PD:
-
Proton density
- ROI:
-
Regions of interest
- SNR:
-
Signal-to-noise ratio
- TSC:
-
Tissue sodium concentration
- TSE:
-
Turbo spin echo
- TA:
-
Acquisition time
- TE:
-
Echo time
- TR:
-
Repetition time
- T2 :
-
Transversal relaxation time
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Acknowledgements
K. Schopen received a Helmholtz Space Life Sciences Research School (SpaceLife) Ph.D. scholarship. SpaceLife was funded in equal parts by the Helmholtz Association (Grant No.: VH-KO-300) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The NutriHEP study was funded by the DLR internal cost object 2475 101.
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Communicated by Guido Ferretti.
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Gerlach, D.A., Schopen, K., Linz, P. et al. Atrophy of calf muscles by unloading results in an increase of tissue sodium concentration and fat fraction decrease: a 23Na MRI physiology study. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 1585–1595 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3647-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-017-3647-4