Ace Therapeutics is committed to providing measurements of bone mineral density and content as well as lean body mass and fat mass measurements through dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to help researchers study anti-psychotic medications and psychiatric disorders and changes in bone mineral density (BMD).

Introduction of Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) in Psychiatry

Depression and depressive symptoms are associated with decreased bone mass and accelerated bone loss in older adults. DXA is the gold standard diagnostic tool for measuring BMD, and some researchers have found that DXA can detect the relationship between depression and antidepressant use and bone health in older adults, as well as the impact on treatment. In addition, anorexia nervosa (AN) has been associated with a variety of medical complications. For example, one of the rare permanent complications of AN is its deleterious effect on a patient's BMD. Therefore, we can study the correlation between BMD and AN through DXA.

Fig. 1 Total body DEXA assessment from 5 to 30 weeks of age in female C57BL/6J mice. (Gargiulo S, et al., 2014)

DXA Services

Our DXA system is specifically designed for use in preclinical small animal models such as mice and rats. Mental disorders and anti-psychotic drugs can adversely affect bone health. With the DXA system we can assess changes in animal body composition, looking for changes in bone mineral density and content, or by measuring changes in fat and lean body mass over time. From there, we can help researchers administer anti-psychotic compounds at effective doses or explore the association of anti-psychotic drugs with increased risk of osteoporotic BMD.

What Images and Data Can We Generate Using DXA?

We typically acquire to produce three graphical outputs x-ray attenuation images, bone mineral density images, and colorimetric images. From these images, we use an algorithm to generate the following measures：

• BMD in g/cm²
• Bone mineral content (BMC) in grams
• Bone area (BA) in cm² 
• Tissue area in cm²
• Percentage and weight of fatty tissue (in % and g)
• Percentage and weight of lean tissue (in % and g)
• Total weight in g
• Plot specific bone length measurements on 2D X-ray images

What Can We Help You Achieve in Psychiatry with DXA?

• Study of the association between antidepressant use and osteoporosis
• Study of bone mineral density status associated with anorexia nervosa
• Study of bone metabolic alterations and bone microarchitectural changes associated with eating disorders
• Study of the effects of eating disorders on bone and new treatment strategies

Our Advantages

• Low dose radiation for data acquisition: allows repeated imaging of the same animal during a longitudinal study.
• Non-invasive data acquisition: data acquisition is non-destructive and has no impact on the animal or the study being conducted.
• Accurate and fast results: high-throughput data acquisition for large study groups.

Ace Therapeutics is committed to advancing the scientific understanding of the pathological processes involved in the formation and progression of mental illness through DXA. If you would like more information about preclinical DXA testing for body composition and bone mineral density measurements, please feel free to make an inquiry and we will be happy to assist you in the area of anti-psychotic drug research.

Reference

1. Gargiulo S, et al. Evaluation of growth patterns and body composition in C57Bl/6J mice using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Biomed Res Int. 2014, 2014:253067.