ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Neuroendocrine Science
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1586085
Association of Carotid Atherosclerosis with Brain Tissue Integrity and Metabolic Parameters in Type 2 Diabetes Patients
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Neurosurgery, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 2Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 3Department of Medicine, Graduate School, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- 4Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is known to adversely impact brain health, leading to cognitive decline and brain tissue volume reduction. This study aimed to assess the damage to graywhite matter junction tissue volume (gwJTV) in T2DM patients with and without carotid artery plaques, and its association with various metabolic parameters.We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 69 T2DM patients, employing threedimensional T1-weighted MRI scans to measure brain tissue volumes, particularly gwJTV, and analyzing blood samples for metabolic parameters. Voxel-based (VBA) and region-of-interest (ROI) analyses of gwJTV were performed to evaluate the group difference with and without carotid artery plaques and to determine correlations to metabolic biomarkers.Voxel-based and region-of-interest analyses revealed that participants with carotid plaques had lower gwJTV than those without at the specific brain area. ROI results study further demonstrated positive associations between gwJTV and metabolic parameters such as AST, ApoB, and LDL, and negative associations with C-peptide, creatinine, and hsCRP.Our findings suggest that gwJTV could be a valuable imaging biomarker for monitoring brain and vascular health in T2DM patients, particularly those affected by carotid atherosclerosis.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes, Brain, Carotid artery plaque, gray-white matter junction volume, metabolic parameters
Received: 02 Mar 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lim, Ryu, Tian, Jun, Park, Jeong and Jahng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
In-Kyung Jeong, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Geon-Ho Jahng, Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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