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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Neuroendocrine Science
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1448225
This article is part of the Research Topic Understanding and Managing Diabetic Neuropathy: Current Perspectives and Future Directions View all 4 articles

Potential effects of peripheral neuropathy on brain function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Provisionally accepted
Dongsheng Zhang Dongsheng Zhang 1Yang Huang Yang Huang 1Xiaoling Zhang Xiaoling Zhang 1Wanting Liu Wanting Liu 1Yitong Guan Yitong Guan 1Jie Gao Jie Gao 1Xiaoyan Lei Xiaoyan Lei 1Min Tang Min Tang 1Kai Ai Kai Ai 2Xuejiao Yan Xuejiao Yan 1*
  • 1 Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China
  • 2 Department of Clinical Science, Philips Healthcare, Xi’an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The mechanisms associated between diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and various brain function abnormalities in patients remains unclear. Therefore, we attempted to indirectly evaluate the effect of DPN on brain function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by characterizing the resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the lower limb sensorimotor cortex (LSM). Forty-four T2DM patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), 39 T2DM patients without diabetic peripheral neuropathy (ND), and 43 healthy controls (HCs) underwent a neuropsychological assessment and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging examinations to examine the differences in FC between the LSM and the whole brain. The relationships of FC with clinical/cognitive variables were examined. In comparison with the HCs group, the ND group showed reduced FC of the LSM with the right lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) and increased FC with the medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed), while the DPN group showed reduced FC of the LSM with the right cerebellar lobule VI, the right LOTC, the rostral prefrontal cortex (rPFC), and the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC). Moreover, in comparison with the ND group, the DPN group showed reduced FC of the LSM with the ACC, SFGmed, and rPFC. In the DPN group, the FC between the LSM and right cerebellar lobule VI was significantly correlated with fasting blood glucose levels (r = -0.490, p = 0.001), and that between the LSM and ACC was significantly correlated with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment score (r = 0.479, p = 0.001). In conclusion, Patients with T2DM may show abnormal motion-related visual perceptual function before the appearance of DPN.Importantly, DPN can influence the brain regions that maintain motion and motor control, and this effect is not limited to motor function, which may be the central neuropathological basis for diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

    Keywords: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy, functional connectivity, Resting-state fMRI, sensorimotor, type 2 diabetes mellitus

    Received: 12 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Huang, Zhang, Liu, Guan, Gao, Lei, Tang, Ai and Yan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xuejiao Yan, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi'an, China

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