Differential impact of diabetes and hypertension in the brain: adverse effects in grey matter.

Diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2 (DM1 and DM2) and/or hypertension (HTN) can contribute to cognitive decline, cerebral atrophy and white matter abnormalities in humans. Adult rat models of streptozotocin-induced DM1 and genetic strains of DM2 and HTN were used to investigate relative contributions of DM and HTN for alterations in cerebral structure and function as well as insulin receptor biology using cognitive testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and histological and molecular methods. The effects of DM1 or DM2 were generally similar.

Differential impact of diabetes and hypertension in the brain: adverse effects in white matter.

Humans subjected to diabetes mellitus (DM) and/or hypertension (HTN) develop cognitive decline, cerebral atrophy and white matter abnormalities, but the relative effects of DM and HTN upon myelin and axonal integrity is unknown. We studied models of Type 1 (streptozotocin-induced) and Type 2 DM (ZDF) ± HTN (ZSF-1, SHR) in adult rats using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and structural and molecular techniques. Type 1 or 2 DM independently led to loss of myelin associated with changes with MRI T2 and magnetization tensor ratios throughout white matter regions.