ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neuroimaging
Sec. Clinical Neuroimaging
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnimg.2025.1615654
This article is part of the Research TopicResearch in Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and Metabolic Syndrome: Cellular Pathways and Therapeutic InnovationsView all 10 articles
A study on appetite of overweight/obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on multimodal magnetic resonance imaging
Provisionally accepted
Mingxuan Gao*
Liya GongYanmei ZengDongling LiJunyan WenYing GuoZhujia LiJingwen LuoChunling ChenGe Wen- Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Purpose: To investigate the alterations of brain structure and function in brain regions related to ingestive desire in overweight/obese T2DM patients, and the correlation with clinical data. Subjects: 52 patients with overweight/obese type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM group), 62 patients with simple obesity (OB group), and 40 healthy subjects (HC group) Assessment: By means of gray matter morphometric indices (cortical thickness, surface area, etc.), resting-state functional magnetic resonance indices (ALFF, ReHo, FC) and DTI eigenvalues (AD, MD, etc.) Statistical Tests: Comparisons among the three groups were made using one-way ANOVA, bonferroni post hoc test for two-way comparisons, and spearman for correlation analysis Results: Compared with the OB and HC groups, the T2DM group showed a significant reduction in cortical thickness in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus orbital region, and the lower part of the right middle frontal gyrus, and the functional connectivity of the prefrontal cortex showed a significant trend of enhancement. Meanwhile, compared with the HC group, the T2DM group showed a significant decrease in FA (Fractional Anisotropy) values in the midline region of the orbitofrontal cortex bilaterally, and the left inferior frontal gyrus orbital region also showed a significant decrease in FA values, whereas AD (Axial diffusivity), MD (Mean diffusivity), and RD (Radial diffusivity) increased significantly.Data Conclusion: T2DM patients have significant alterations in gray matter structure, brain white matter integrity and brain function, and most of the brain regions with significant differences are in the prefrontal cortex, which confirms that the abnormal desire to ingest in T2DM patients is closely related to the functional alterations of the reward system, and that observing the brain function and structural changes of the reward loop through imaging may help in the early diagnosis and treatment of overweight/obese T2DM patients.
Keywords: Obesity, type 2 diabetes, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Neuroimaging, fMRI
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Gong, Zeng, Li, Wen, Guo, Li, Luo, Chen and Wen. 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: Mingxuan Gao, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.