PLoS Med: brain dysfunction in children with type I diabetes

December 12, 2019 / Biovalley BIOON / -- a study led by researchers from Stanford University School of medicine shows that children with type 1 diabetes have subtle but important differences in brain function compared with children without disease The study, published online December 9 in PLoS Medicine, is the first to assess what happens in the brains of diabetic children during cognitive tests In fMRI scan, when the brain of diabetic children is in working state, they will show a series of abnormal brain activity patterns, which can be seen in many other diseases, including aging cognitive decline, concussion, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and multiple sclerosis The study also reported that children with diabetes had more abnormal patterns of brain activity (image source: www Pixabay Com) Dr Lara foland Ross, a senior researcher at Stanford University brain science research center, said: "our findings show that in children with type 1 diabetes, the efficiency of the brain is unsatisfactory." Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas fails to produce insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar At present, insulin is provided to patients by injection or insulin pump But even after treatment, their blood glucose (the main sugar in the blood) levels fluctuated much more than in healthy individuals "Blood sugar levels in children with diabetes fluctuate over a long period of time, and glucose is essential for brain development," foland Ross said Brain cells need a stable supply of glucose Early work has revealed structural changes and mild performance disorders in children with type 1 diabetes, but the mechanism has not been studied "It's important to capture functionally what's going on in these children's brains," she said The researchers performed fMRI brain scans on 93 children with type 1 diabetes who were recruited from five locations and 57 children who were not ill in the control group All participants were 7-14 years old Standard behavioral and cognitive tests were performed on all children prior to brain scanning Then, in the fMRI scanner, the children performed a cognitive task called "do / not do": different letters were displayed in random order, and participants were asked to press a button in response to each letter except "X." This task is often used in brain scanning studies to assess what happens in the brain when participants are focused The study found that although children with diabetes performed tasks as accurately as those in the control group, their brain behavior was different In children with diabetes, the default mode network (the brain's "idle" system) is not turned off during task execution In order to compensate for the abnormal activation of the default pattern network, the brain executive control network responsible for self-regulation and concentration works harder in diabetic children than in normal people These abnormalities are more pronounced in children diagnosed with diabetes, suggesting that the problem may worsen over time Next, scientists want to study whether closed-loop artificial pancreas treatment can benefit children's brain function These devices electronically couple glucose sensors to insulin pumps that automatically regulate insulin delivery "We hope that as diabetes treatment equipment improves, the severity of these abnormalities will decrease or disappear," Reiss said, adding that by better controlling blood sugar, children's brains may be able to return to normal activity Source of information: brain function abnormal in children with type 1 diabetes original source: Lara C foland Ross, Bruce buckingam, Nelly mauras, Ana Maria arbelaez, William v tamborane, EVA tsalikian, Allison Cato, Gabby Tong, Kimberly englert, Paul K mazaika, Allan L Reiss Executive task based brain function in children with type 1 diabetes: an observational study PLOS Medicine , 2019; 16 (12): e1002979 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002979