Regional Brain Glucose Hypometabolism in Young Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Possible Link to Mild Insulin Resistance.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Small cross-sectional case-control imaging study
PubMed 26650926 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144116
What was done
Dynamic FDG-PET and MRI were used to quantify regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglu) in 7 normal-weight young women with PCOS compared to 11 healthy controls of similar age, education, and BMI. Insulin resistance was assessed via HOMA2-IR, and cognitive testing evaluated working memory, attention, and executive function.
What was found
The PCOS group had 10% higher fasting glucose and 40% higher HOMA2-IR (p ≤ 0.035) than controls. Regional CMRglu was 9-14% lower in specific frontal, parietal, and temporal cortical regions in PCOS (p ≤ 0.018). CMRglu negatively correlated with HOMA2-IR in frontal, parietal, and temporal cortices, hippocampus, and amygdala (p ≤ 0.05). Overall cognitive performance was normal in both groups, though PASAT working memory scores showed a low trend in PCOS.
Why it matters
The findings provide preliminary evidence that mild insulin resistance is associated with regional brain glucose hypometabolism in young adults independent of obesity.
Limits
The sample size is extremely small (7 PCOS, 11 controls). The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality, and cognitive differences were non-significant trends.
Cited by
- context Women diagnosed with PCOS show a 10% to 14% reduction in cerebral glucose utilization.