Practical Geriatrics ›› 2025, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (11): 1163-1168.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1003-9198.2025.11.018

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Role of insulin resistance in different brain regions in Alzheimer’s disease

CHEN Pengyao, ZHAO Ziwei, ZHAN Xianghong, LIU Yong   

  1. The Fifth Clinical Medical College(CHEN Pengyao);College of Traditional Chinese Medicine(ZHAO Ziwei), Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450003, China;
    Henan Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Prevention and Treatment of Brain Cognitive Diseases, Zhengzhou 450000, China(ZHAN Xianghong);
    Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine for Prevention and Treatment of Brain Cognitive Diseases, Zhengzhou 450046, China(LIU Yong)
  • Received:2025-03-17 Published:2025-11-26
  • Contact: ZHAN Xianghong, Email: zxh371@163.com

Abstract: The region specific role of insulin resistance in the central nervous system is receiving increasing attention. This review systematically integrates recent research and finds that insulin sensitive brain regions such as the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and hypothalamus can trigger key pathological processes of Alzheimer’s disease, including glucose metabolism disorders, mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroinflammation cascade amplification, abnormal deposition of β-amyloid protein, and excessive phosphorylation of Tau protein, under insulin resistance. The core mechanism involves the disruption of brain region specific insulin signaling pathways by insulin resistance, leading to synaptic plasticity damage, weakened neurotrophic support, and accelerated neuronal degeneration. Notably, targeted intervention strategies have shown potential to modulate Alzheimer’s disease pathology in preclinical studies. Starting from the sensitivity of different brain regions to insulin resistance, this article explores its mechanism in Alzheimer’s disease, in order to provide a new perspective for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

Key words: brain regions, insulin resistance, Alzheimer’s disease

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