Imaging Biomarkers of Human Skeletal Muscle (Mass, Morphology and Texture Features of Muscle Groups in the Body Trunk and Thigh) in Sarcopenia and Cardiometabolic Disease

该项目的目的是从整个德国国家队列的MRI图像数据集中提取骨骼肌肉组织（GNC，NAKO Gesundheitsstudie）（约30，000名参与者的MRI图像数据）关于临床相关变化，由此体积或最大横截面积以及组成和空间分布（纹理）脂肪组织和结缔组织的定义的肌肉群在躯干和大腿进行了调查。骨骼肌肉系统对于人体的活动性和新陈代谢具有突出的重要性。众所周知，肌肉结构的变化伴随着收缩性成分的分解以及脂肪和结缔组织的增加（肌肉减少症）通常会导致老年患者丧失活动能力并需要护理。代谢性疾病如糖尿病以及心血管和肺部疾病也与许多患者的肌肉力量和耐力下降有关。到目前为止，对肌肉组织中相关的结构变化的研究很少。 在“优先计划SPP 2177”的项目第一阶段（2020年1月至2022年12月）中，基于人工智能的自动化评估计划用于分割四个肌肉群（m.腰肌臀肌股四头肌和大腿的屈肌），并对分割的肌肉区域进行纹理分析和质量测试。已经根据最初从全球导航卫星系统/NAKO获得的大约11 000套数据收集和评价了相应的数据。在目前正在申请的第二个供资阶段，图像分析将扩大到现有的所有30 000个数据集。一个目标是确定整个队列中的肌肉特征（如体积，脂肪含量，质地特征）及其对年龄，性别和体质（BMI，身高）的依赖性。由于GNC/NAKO从问卷调查和身体或实验室检查中获得的数据现在才开始提供，该项目的第二阶段还将评估肌肉特征与身体活动和肌肉力量测量以及与疾病相关数据（口服葡萄糖耐量试验，血压，肺或心血管疾病的存在）的相关性。寻求特定的图像形态学肌肉特征，其可以用作生理老化过程以及肌肉组织中的病理变化的诊断或预后生物标志物。肌肉结构的调节，特别是脂肪含量的调节并不独立于内脏和皮下脂肪组织的分布以及肝脏中的异位脂肪沉积。为了澄清这些关系，计划与SP 2177的项目组密切互动，这些项目组正在分析身体脂肪分布和衰老（已经建立了密切合作）。

The aim of the project is to characterise the skeletal musculature from MRI image data sets of the entire German National Cohort (GNC, NAKO Gesundheitsstudie) (about 30,000 participants with MRI image data) with regard to clinically relevant changes, whereby both the volume or the maximum cross-sectional area and the composition and spatial distribution (texture) of fatty tissue and connective tissue of defined muscle groups in the trunk and thigh are investigated. The skeletal musculature is of outstanding importance for mobility and metabolism of the human organism. It is known that changes in muscle structure with breakdown of contractile elements and increase in fat and connective tissue (sarcopenia) often lead to loss of mobility and need for care in elderly patients. Metabolic diseases such as diabetes as well as cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases are also associated with a reduction in muscle strength and endurance in many patients. The associated structural changes in the musculature have been little researched so far. In the first phase of the project (January 2020 - December 2022) in the "Priority Programme SPP 2177", AI-based automated evaluation programmes for the segmentation of four muscle groups (m. psoas, m. gluteus, m. quadriceps femoris and flexor muscles of the thigh) and texture analysis of the segmented muscle areas were developed and quality-tested. Corresponding data have already been collected and evaluated on approximately 11,000 data sets initially available from the GNC/NAKO. In the second funding phase, which is now being applied for, the image analyses are to be extended to all 30,000 data sets now available. One goal is to determine muscle characteristics (such as volume, fat content, texture characteristics) and their dependence on age, gender and constitution (BMI, body height) in the entire cohort. As the GNC/NAKO data derived from questionnaire and physical or laboratory examinations are only now becoming available, the second phase of the project will also evaluate the correlations of muscle characteristics with physical activity and muscle strength measurements as well as with disease-related data (oral glucose tolerance test, blood pressure, presence of pulmonary or cardiovascular diseases). Specific, image-morphological muscle characteristics are sought that can serve as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for the physiological ageing process as well as for pathological changes in the musculature. The regulation of muscular structure and especially of fat content is not independent of the distribution of visceral and subcutaneous fat tissue as well as of ectopic fat deposits in the liver. In order to clarify these relationships, close interaction is planned with the project groups in SP 2177, which are working on the analysis of body fat distribution and ageing (close collaboration is already established).