“with the advent of techniques to strengthen brain regions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, might this type of research help guide possible interventions?” –Andrew Norris
Dr. Tsalikian and collaborators across the country have been studying brain cognitive function in children with and without type 1 diabetes. In a study just published in PLOS Medicine, they report interesting differences. They used functional magnetic imaging resonance (fMRI) to measure activation in various brain locations while the children were given tasks. Compared to children without diabetes, those with type 1 diabetes exhibited two differences. One of the observed changes was impaired control of a region towards the back of the brain and this impairment typically leads to diminished task performance. In contrast, there was enhanced activation of a region towards the front of the brain involved in executive control. It appears that these two changes balanced each other, in that the two groups had similar task performance. Simply put, it appears that the brains of children with type 1 diabetes are able to compensate for impairments presumably induced by long-term exposure to high blood sugars. More study is needed to understand this latter point in particular, for example would the pattern normalize if the blood sugars were held to the normal range during the study? Furthermore, more study is needed to understand the broader implications of this work, for example might these or related changes contribute to the increased risk of depression in persons with diabetes? Finally, with the advent of techniques to strengthen brain regions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, might this type of research help delineate important interventions? Also involved in the study from our Division were Dr. Tansey, Julie Coffey, Joanne Cabbage, Sara Salamati, and Rachel Bisbee.