Document Type
Honors Thesis
Date of Award
Spring 2024
Abstract
The chronic metabolic disorder classified as diabetes, is growing at an alarming rate in many countries all across the globe. Diabetes is characterized by an above average blood glucose measurement, due to insulin production and insulin response abnormalities within the body. This increase in blood glucose has detrimental effects on all physiological systems, commonly associated with organs such as the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. One of the less understood and commonly disregarded side effects of diabetes is related to the cognitive declines associated with the disease. Cognitive declines associated with diabetes include memory loss, speech impairments, and decreased motor functions, which manifest through observable physical changes in the brain including neuroinflammation, cerebral atrophy, and abnormalities in the white matter of the brain. It is well established that there are differential gene expression patterns present between diabetic and non-diabetic conditions, but how this affects cognition is still not well understood. Using publicly available gene expression data from the Jackson Laboratory, gene expression patterns were observed from hypothalamus tissue in both diabetic and non-diabetic mice from three different strains of mice. It was found that 40 genes showed significant differential gene expression patterns in all three strains of the diabetically induced mice compared to the non-diabetic mice. Of these genes, using publicly available gene expression data, products of these genes and associated function were linked with the cognitive declines observed in diabetes. Such functions include increased apoptosis in neuronal cells, increased neuroinflammation, increased exposure to toxins, increased production of reactive oxygen species, decrease in apoptotic regulator proteins, and much more. These findings seem to indicate that the differential gene expression patterns observed in diabetes likely have a role in the cognitive declines associated with diabetes.
Advisor
Venu Cheriyath
Recommended Citation
Downs, Dylan, "Differential Gene Expressions Patterns in Diabetes in Relation to Cognitive Declines Associated with Diabetes" (2024). Honors Theses. 225.
https://digitalcommons.tamuc.edu/honorstheses/225