What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Observational. Population: Healthy volunteers (n=27). Intervention: Ultrasound-guided 18G needle biopsy vs. Abdominal subcutaneous biopsy. Primary outcome: RNA extraction and preadipocyte isolation success.

November 18, 2025Open Access

An ultrasound-guided biopsy technique for obtaining supraclavicular brown fat biopsies and preadipocytes

Key Result

An ultrasound-guided 18G needle biopsy technique successfully obtained human supraclavicular brown adipose tissue for RNA extraction and preadipocyte isolation, though differentiation success was low.

Study Design

Type

Observational (n=27)

Multicenter

Structured PICO

Population

Humans (implied for studying human brown adipose tissue)

Intervention

Ultrasound-guided biopsy technique for collecting supraclavicular brown fat biopsies, RNA extraction, and adipose progenitor cell isolation

Outcome

Feasibility of extracting sufficient RNA for qPCR and isolating adipose progenitor cells with differentiation capacity

This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the initial feasibility of an ultrasound-guided biopsy technique for human brown adipose tissue, though methodological refinements are needed to improve success rates.

Limitations

Low success rate for adipogenic differentiation
Risk of adverse events including pneumothorax
Small biopsy size limits RNA yield and cell isolation
Lack of pre-screening for BAT presence

Abstract

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is considered a potential therapeutic target for obesity and other metabolic diseases, due to its ability to convert glucose and fatty acids to heat. However, studying activated human BAT in vivo poses challenges due to its intricate anatomical positioning e.g. in the supraclavicular area. We present an ultrasound-guided biopsy technique for collecting small biopsies from the supraclavicular area and procedures for RNA extraction and adipose progenitor cell isolation from said biopsies. We show that it is possible to extract sufficient RNA for qPCR analysis and isolate adipose progenitor cells with differentiation capacity from the small biopsies. The success rate of the procedures was, however, low, with only few of the isolated progenitors being able to successfully differentiate, and most samples and cell cultures not showing a clear BAT profile. In the manuscript we discuss possible methodological refinements to yield a higher success rate. We thus present a proof of concept and a first step towards a new method for obtaining and studying human BAT, which would enable the conduction of clinical intervention studies of BAT biology in humans.

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