Glucose Fluctuations Are Linked to Disrupted Brain Functional Architecture and Cognitive Impairment

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accelerates cognitive decline, which is believed to be triggered by aberrant neural activity.

To explore how glucose fluctuations impact brain functional architecture and cognition in T2DM patients.

T2DM patients were divided according to glycemic variability, forming two categories: patients with fluctuating glucose levels and patients with stable glucose levels. Degree centrality (DC) was calculated within the cerebral gray matter of each participant and was compared among the two patient groups and a healthy control group. The relationships between glucose fluctuations and aberrant DC and cognitive performance, as well as the relationship between aberrant DC and cognitive performance, were further explored.

Compared with T2DM patients with stable glucose levels, T2DM patients with fluctuating glucose levels exhibited significantly worse performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B), and verbal fluency test (VFT), as well as significant decreases in DC in certain regions, most of which were within the default mode network. In the combined T2DM group, the mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE) was positively correlated with TMT-B scores and negatively correlated with VFT scores. Moreover, the MAGE was negatively correlated with DC in the left medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In addition, TMT-B scores were negatively correlated with reduced DC in the left mPFC.

These findings further contribute to the mounting evidence of the effects of glycemic variability on the diabetic brain. Tightened control of glucose fluctuations might prevent cognitive decline and changes in brain functional architecture in T2DM individuals.