Is There Inflammatory Synergy in Type II Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer’s Disease?

Figure 1

Potential effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus on microglial activation in Alzheimer’s disease. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) affects the brain with chronic impairment of insulin production and glycaemic control in the periphery. T2DM also causes macro- and microvascular diseases in which inflammation plays a pivotal role. Cerebral microvascular diseases developed from T2DM complications lead to compromised blood-brain barrier function and endothelial cell activation. Microglia can respond to vascular injury and inflammation. Microglial activation is a process of functional and morphological transformation. We propose here that they can be staged as surveillance, proinflammatory, inflammatory, phagocytic, and degenerative states; the transformation depends on the type, distance, potency, and duration of stimulation. We propose that T2DM might promote the activation of microglia through vascular inflammation and the effects on neuronal metabolic dysfunction.