Rudroff, Thorsten, authorKindred, John H., authorBenson, John-Michael, authorTracy, Brian L., authorKalliokoski, Kari K., authorFrontiers Media S. A., publisher2007-01-032007-01-032014-05Rudroff, Thorsten, John H. Kindred, John-Michael Benson, Brian L. Tracy, and Kari K. Kalliokoski, Greater Glucose Uptake Heterogeneity in Knee Muscles of Old Compared to Young Men During Isometric Contractions Detected by [18F]-FDG PET/CT. Frontiers in Physiology 5, article 198 (May 2014): 1-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2014.00198http://hdl.handle.net/10217/83371We used positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and [18F]-FDG to test the hypothesis that glucose uptake (GU) heterogeneity in skeletal muscles as a measure of heterogeneity in muscle activity is greater in old than young men when they perform isometric contractions. Six young (26 ± 6 years) and six old (77 ± 6 years) men performed two types of submaximal isometric contractions that required either force or position control. [18F]-FDG was injected during the task and PET/CT scans were performed immediately after the task. Within-muscle heterogeneity of knee muscles was determined by calculating the coefficient of variation (CV) of GU in PET image voxels within the muscles of interest. The average GU heterogeneity (mean ± SD) for knee extensors and flexors was greater for the old (35.3 ± 3.3%) than the young (28.6 ± 2.4%) (P = 0.006). Muscle volume of the knee extensors were greater for the young compared to the old men (1016 ± 163 vs. 598 ± 70 cm3, P = 0.004). In a multiple regression model, knee extensor muscle volume was a predictor (partial r = −0.87; P = 0.001) of GU heterogeneity for old men (R2 = 0.78; P < 0.001), and MVC force predicted GU heterogeneity for young men (partial r = −0.95, P < 0.001). The findings demonstrate that GU is more spatially variable for old than young men and especially so for old men who exhibit greater muscle atrophy.born digitalarticlesengglucoseagingpositron emission tomographymuscle volumecomputed tomographyTextThis article is open access and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2014.00198