Preliminary Data on the Interactions Between Dementia and Some Metabolic Disfunctions

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition correlated with the aging process, characterized by the progressive decline of cognitive functions and behavioral and personality changes. We assessed here the sample of 33 subjects and each of them was submitted to the mini–mental state examination (MMSE) to assess the severity of dementia. Our results showed that Type 1 diabetes is caused by the destruction of beta cells resulting in absolute insulin deficiency, and type 2 diabetes is caused by the continuous progression of insulin secretory deficiency and insulin resistance. The present study showed how insulin resistance and high insulin levels in type 2 diabetes, factors outside the CNS, were reported to induce a decrease in brain insulin, with subsequent impairment of signaling pathways associated with learning and memory, neural survival, energy metabolism and plasticity, thereby affecting cognition.