The Impact of Type 1 Diabetes on Neural Dynamics

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) has been shown to affect the structure and function of the brain. The current study sought to uncover the neural dynamics underlying cognitive processing in adults with T1D using non-invasive neuroimaging. Adults with T1D and without major complications and a demographically-matched control group underwent magnetoencephalography (MEG) while performing tasks tapping attention, working memory and motor functioning. MEG data from each task was examined using a beamformer source imaging approach and probed statistically for group differences. Our results for the flanker attention task indicated that neural activity in the anterior cingulate, paracentral lobule, and parietal function was altered, such that participants with T1D had stronger flanker interference responses in parietal and weaker responses in anterior cingulate regions (p \u3c .001). Further, the overall strength of the anterior cingulate and paracentral lobule responses significantly correlated with disease duration, r = -.46, p = .006, and r = -.42, p = .013, respectively. Group differences in parietal-occipital responses were found throughout encoding and maintenance phases of the working memory task, where participants with T1D had stronger parietal activity in encoding and weakened parietal-occipital activity in maintenance (ps \u3c .01). Activity in several regions correlated with duration and A1C in participants with T1D (ps \u3c .01). Motor responses were also altered in participants with T1D, where specific frequency responses differentially predicted behavioral outcomes. These findings demonstrate significant alterations in neurophysiology underlying major cognitive processes, likely affecting outcomes in later life