Cognitive Impairment May Lead to Altered Glucose Metabolism Due to Chronic Stress

Stress seems to be inevitable in life, but we are constantly warned by medical practitioners to avoid it as much as possible. Stress has often been associated with issues in the cardiovascular system, but new research also focuses on its effects on cognitive health.

To function optimally, the brain needs a glucose balance, about 10 times more glucose than any other system in the body. Disturbance of this balance can lead to cognitive impairment, as well as mental health issues including depression. Stress is one of the known factors that can cause glucose imbalance in the brain.

In a new study, researchers examined how different animals responded to chronic stress and their long-term effects on brain glucose metabolism. The researchers noted that stress caused a disturbance of glucose levels in the brain and periphery. Shortly after exposure to stress, the animals showed elevated blood glucose levels.

The brain showed hyperglycemia and still reduced glucose intake levels. After the mice were given medications used for diabetes, the excretory glucose levels in their urine were normalized and blood glucose levels stabilized.

Different Stress Responses in Individuals

"Not all animals responded the same," said Tanja Jene, co - author of the study. "Within the stressed population, distinct subgroups could be distinguished, ie those that increased glucose levels after stress but others maintained normal glucose levels."

Only the animals that responded to the stress cases with a stress response and increased glucose levels showed signs of resulting cognitive impairment. The diabetes medication was also very effective in this group, normalizing spatial memory and long-term glucose metabolism.

For the study subjects who responded without increased glucose levels, the administration of diabetes medication caused their otherwise normal spatial memory to be impaired.

“Our results show that chronic stress can damage spatial memory through changes in glucose levels and that intact glucose metabolism is critical for memory-related processes,” said Dr. Michael van der Kooij, who designed the study.

“Furthermore, the results emphasize the importance of individuality, as all subjects had the same stress, but only some were susceptible, as these disturbances developed glucose metabolism levels and , hence, cognitive impairments. Because stress resilience or resilience can be predicted soon after stress by measuring blood glucose levels, he believes that people with stress-related disorders such as depression, abnormal glucose metabolism and the classification strategies may play a major role. the current study could be used to improve treatment efficacy. "

Although these results only apply to mice currently tested in this study, the results obtained are unlikely to be similar to humans, when tested. The individuality of brain chemistry and responses to stress is already noticed in humans and the treatment of mental health disorders makes science so complex because individual needs are different.