Krssak Martin, Ph.D.

Research Interests: in Vivo Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Non-Invasive Assessment of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism, Type 2 Diabetes, Insulin Resistance, Exercise Physiology

Skeletal muscle, liver, fat tissue, myocardium as well as brain, are easily accessible for investigation by magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging.

Direct quantification of whole body fat distribution and ectopic fat content within skeletal muscle, myocardium and hepatic tissue has substantially improved our knowledge of the mechanism of the fat action in the human body. These methods enable to study the links between the size and metabolic activity of different triglyceride pools to the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Characterization of glucose fluxes from biopsy specimen can be complemented by 13C and 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. With this approach we were able to quantify defects of glucose and energy metabolism in both skeletal muscle and liver in diabetes and other insulin resistant states.

Recently focus is laid on research at ultra-high magnetic field of 7T – non-invasive characterization of the tissue in the relation with diffuse liver disease and diabetes mellitus. 

Methods & Techniques

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: ¹³C, ³¹P, ¹H spectroscopy – muscle, liver, heart, brain – with the focus on glucose, lipid and energy metabolism of human and animal models of human disease

Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI, parameter selective MRI, molecular imaging

Selected Publications

Krššák M, Falk Petersen K, Dresner A, DiPietro L, Vogel SM, Rothman DL, Roden M, Shulman GI: Intramyocellular Lipid Concentrations are Correlated with Insulin Sensitivity in Man: A ¹H NMR Spectroscopy Study. Diabetologia 42: 113-116, 1999

Krššák M, Petersen KF, Bergeron R, Price T, Laurent D, Rothman DL, Roden M, Shulman GI. Intramuscular glycogen and intramyocellular lipid utilization during prolonged exercise and recovery in man: A ¹³C and ¹H NMR Spectroscopy Study. J Clin Endocrin Metabolism 85: 748-754, 2000

Krššák M, Brehm A, Bernroider E, Anderwald C, Dalla Man C, Nowotny P, Cobelli C, Clilne GW, Shulman GI, Waldhäusl W, Roden M: Alteration in postprandial hepatic glycogen metabolism in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetes 53: 3048-3056, 2004

Krššák M, Winhofer Y, Göbl C, Bischof M, Reiter G, Kautzky-Willer A, Luger A, Krebs M,  Anderwald C: Insulin resistance is not associated with myocardial steatosis in women. Diabetologia 54: 1871-1878, 2011

Valkovič , Gajdošík M, Traussnigg S, Wolf P, Chmelík M, Bogner W, Krebs M, Trauner M, Trattnig S, Krššák M. Application of localized ³¹P MRS saturation transfer at 7T for measurement of ATP metabolism in the liver: reproducibility and first clinical application in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Eur Radiol 24: 1602–1609, 2014

Gajdošík M, Chmelík M, Just-Kukurová I, Bogner W, Valkovič L, Trattnig S, Krššák M. In vivo relaxation behaviour of liver compounds at 7 T, measured by single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. J Magn Reson Imaging 40: 1365-1374, 2014

Chmelík M, Valkovič L, Wolf P, Bogner W, Gajdošík M, Gruber S, Krebs M, Trattnig S, Krššák M. Phosphatidylcholine contributes to in vivo ³¹P MRS signal from the human liver. Eur Radiol Jan 11. [Epub ahead of print] DOI 10.1007/s00330-014-3578-y, 2015

Gajdošík M, Chadzynski G, Hangel G, Mlynárik V, Chmelík M, Valkovič L, Bogner W, Pohman R, Scheffler K, Trattnig S, Krššák M. Ultra-short TE STEAM and offline water signal subtraction improve quantification of lipids, choline-containing compounds and detection of fatty acid chains unsaturation in liver at 7 T. NMR Biomed 28: 1283-1293, 2015

Just Kukurová I, Valkovič L, Ukropec J, de Courten B, Chmelík M, Ukropcová B, Trattnig S, Krššák M. Improved spectral resolution and high reliability of in vivo ¹H MRS at 7T allows characterization of effect of acute exercise on carnosine in skeletal muscle. NMR Biomed 29: 24-32, 2015

Valkovič L, Chmelík M, Ukropcová B, Heckmann T, Bogner W, Frollo I, Tschan H, Krebs M, Bachl N, Ukropec J, Trattnig S, Krššák M. Skeletal muscle alkaline Pi pool is decreased in overweight-to-obese sedentary subjects and relates to phosphodiester content and mitochondrial capacity. Scientific Reports 2016