Altered genomic regulation of expression of key synaptic proteins may be responsible for the increased risk of dementia seen in diabetic individuals, studies in mice suggested.
Mice with a diet-induced form of type 2 diabetes showed elevated expression of class 2a histone deacetylases (HDACs) in their brains. This was “associated with increased susceptibility to oligomeric beta-amyloid protein-induced synaptic impairments” in the hippocampus, the brain’s center of learning and memory, according to Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues.
Read the full, original story here: Epigenetics May Tie Diabetes to Dementia