Hippocampal Metabolite Alterations in Long-term Insulin-treated Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Rats Revealed by 1H MRS

In this study, 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) was used to analyze metabolites in the hippocampus of chronic type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) rats induced by streptozocin and T1DM rats treated with long-term insulin. The results showed that, compared with control rats and insulin-treated T1DM rats, the fasting blood glucose of T1DM rats increased significantly, while the body weight of T1DM rats decreased remarkably (p < 0.05). The contents of myo-inositol (Ins), taurine (Tau) and glutamate (Glu) of T1DM rats were significantly higher than those of control rats (p=0.000, p=0.003, p=0.014, respectively), and the contents of Ins and Tau of insulin-treated T1DM rats were significantly decreased than those in the T1DM diabetic rats (p=0.000, p=0.010, respectively). Contents of Glu and Glx (Glu and glutamine) of insulin-treated T1DM rats were significantly higher than those in the control group (p=0.007, p=0.042, respectively). The metabolite changes of Ins and Tau in hippocampus of T1DM rats are sensitive to insulin treatment.