Altered Brain Regional Homogeneity in First-Degree Relatives of Type 2 Diabetics: A functional MRI Study

Objective This study aimed to investigate regional homogeneity in the first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetes patients. Methods Seventy-eight subjects, including 26 type 2 diabetes patients, 26 first-degree relatives, and 26 healthy controls, were assessed. All participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. The estimated regional homogeneity value was used to evaluate differences in brain activities. Results In first-degree relatives, we observed significantly decreased regional homogeneity in the left anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, and bilateral temporal lobes, and increased regional homogeneity in the left superior frontal gyrus, right anterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex compared to healthy controls. In type 2 diabetes patients, we detected altered regional homogeneity in the left anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex, and several other brain regions compared to healthy controls. Both first-degree relatives and type 2 diabetes patients showed decreased regional homogeneity in the left superior temporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, left anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, and increased regional homogeneity in the left superior frontal gyrus and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex. Conclusion These findings suggest that altered regional homogeneity in the left anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, left superior frontal gyrus, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex, and bilateral temporal lobes might be a neuroimaging biomarker of type 2 diabetes-related brain dysfunction.