Reproducibility and accuracy of body composition assessments in mice by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry and time domain nuclear magnetic resonance.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy and reproducibility of dual-energy absorptiometry (DXA; PIXImus(™)) and time domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR; Bruker Optics) for the measurement of body composition of lean and obese mice. SUBJECTS AND MEASUREMENTS: Thirty lean and obese mice (body weight range 19-67 g) were studied. Coefficients of variation for repeated (x 4) DXA and NMR scans of mice were calculated to assess reproducibility. Accuracy was assessed by comparing DXA and NMR results of ten mice to chemical carcass analyses. Accuracy of the respective techniques was also assessed by comparing DXA and NMR results obtained with ground meat samples to chemical analyses. Repeated scans of 10-25 gram samples were performed to test the sensitivity of the DXA and NMR methods to variation in sample mass. RESULTS: In mice, DXA and NMR reproducibility measures were similar for fat tissue mass (FTM) (DXA coefficient of variation [CV]=2.3%; and NMR CV=2.8%) (P=0.47), while reproducibility of lean tissue mass (LTM) estimates were better for DXA (1.0%) than NMR (2.2%) (