Effects of Exercise on Type 2 Diabetes-induced Cognitive Dysfunction

Abstract

Background: Pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has become a prevalent epidemic in modern world and recently appears to have high correlation with cognitive dysfunction. Purpose: This article was aimed to review: (1) the possible association between pre-diabetes or T2D and cognitive dysfunction; (2) the effect of exercise on cognitive function in pre-diabetes or T2D; and (3) the possible mechanism that exercise attenuates cognitive dysfunction in individuals with pre-diabetes or T2D. Summary: Summaries concluded in this article were: (1) literatures had proposed the common pathological process in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and T2D. Three typical T2D risk factors, hyperglycemia, high glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, and insulin resistance, account for the formation of cognitive impairment in this population; (2) with proper and valid prescription, exercise may elicit its beneficial effects on executive function among middle-aged and elder individuals with glucose intolerance or T2D; and (3) exercise may ameliorate the extent of cognitive dysfunction possibly by attenuated brain atrophy, ameliorated cerebral infarctions or cerebrovascular disease, and reduced Aβ deposition and tau protein phosphorylation. Nonetheless, the effect of exercise to attenuate cognitive decline in diabetic women, and the underlying mechanism that exercise ameliorates diabetes-induced cognitive dysfunction should be warranted by further investigations.