Aberrant Brain Spontaneous Activity and Synchronization in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Subjects Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Yifan Li; Mingrui Li; Yue Feng; Xiaomeng Ma; Xin Tan; Yuna Chen; Chunhong Qin; Haoming Huang; Yi Liang; Shijun Qiu

doi:10.3389/fnins.2021.749730

Aberrant Brain Spontaneous Activity and Synchronization in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Subjects Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Front Neurosci. 2021 Dec 16:15:749730. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.749730. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yifan Li^{1

2}, Mingrui Li^{1

2}, Yue Feng^{1

2}, Xiaomeng Ma^{1

2}, Xin Tan², Yuna Chen^{1

2}, Chunhong Qin², Haoming Huang^{1

2}, Yi Liang^{1

2}, Shijun Qiu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ First Clinical Medical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to explore whether the percent amplitude of fluctuation (PerAF) measurement could provide supplementary information for amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) about spontaneous activity alteration in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) subjects without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Then we further evaluated the synchronization through the method of functional connectivity (FC) to better demonstrate brain changes in a more comprehensive manner in T2DM. Methods: Thirty T2DM subjects without MCI and thirty well-matched healthy subjects were recruited in this study. Subjects' clinical data, neuropsychological test results, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were acquired. Voxel-based group difference comparisons between PerAF and ALFF were conducted. Then, seed-based FC between the recognized brain regions based on PerAF and ALFF and the rest of the whole brain was performed. Results: Compared with healthy group, T2DM group had significantly decreased PerAF in the bilateral middle occipital gyrus and the right calcarine, increased ALFF in the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus and decreased ALFF in the right calcarine. Seed-based FC analysis showed that the right middle occipital gyrus of T2DM subjects exhibited significantly decreased FC with the right caudate nucleus and right putamen. According to the partial correlation analyses, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and immediate memory scores on the auditory verbal learning test (AVLT) were negatively correlated in the T2DM group. However, we found that total cholesterol was positively correlated with symbol digit test (SDT) scores. Conclusion: PerAF and ALFF may have different sensitivities in detecting the abnormal spontaneous brain activity in T2DM subjects. We suggest PerAF values may add supplementary information and indicate additional potential neuronal spontaneous activity in T2DM subjects without MCI, which may provide new insights into the neuroimaging mechanisms underlying early diabetes-associated cognitive decline.

Keywords: cognitive function; functional connectivity; percent amplitude of fluctuation; resting-state; type 2 diabetes mellitus.