Mahamoud Omar Hussein1, Luca Marciani2,
Mary Stephenson1, Caroline L. Hoad1, Eleanor F. Cox1,
Elisa Placidi1, Susan Pritchard1, Henelyta Ribeiro3,
Elisabetta Ciampi3, Pip Rayment3, Asish Nandi3,
Nick Hedges3, Paul Sanderson3, Irmela Kruse3,
Robin C. Spiller2, Penny A. Gowland1
1The Sir Peter Mansfied Magnetic
Resonance Centre, School of Physics & Astronomy, The University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom; 2Nottingham
Digestive Diseases Centre NIHR Biomedical Research Unit, The University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; 3Unilever Discover, Colworth
Science Park, Bedford, United Kingdom
MRI
can monitor gastrointestinal function and visualise the water and fat
components of food in the gut separately. This study describes development
work aimed to combine MRI and MRS to provide a method of monitoring the
gastrointestinal fate and absorption of fat in the skeletal muscle and liver.
Two healthy volunteers were fed two fat emulsions of different droplet sizes
and were scanned at intervals postprandially. The 2 different meals triggered
a diverse duodenal response affecting gastric emptying, gallbladder
contraction and small bowel secretion. MRS showed promise for monitoring
changes in both liver and calf lipid/water ratios.
Keywords