• Lijun Qiu, Xiangliang Tan, Mengchen Zou, Binchang Lao, Yikai Xu, Yaoming Xue, Fang Gao, and Ying Cao.
• Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
• Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2018 Dec 30; 38 (12): 1433-1439.

ObjectiveTo investigate the abnormalities in regional homogeneity of brain activity in patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and explore the association between brain activity changes and DPN.MethodsA regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach was used to compare the local synchronization of rs-fMRI signals among 20 patients with painful DPN, 16 patients with painless DPN, and 16 type 2 diabetic patients without DPN (non-DPN group).ResultsCompared with the those without DPN, the patients with painful DPN showed high ReHo in the left inferior temporal gyrus and the right central posterior gyrus, and low ReHo in the posterior cingulate gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, and the left superior parietal gyrus (P < 0.05);the patients with painless DPN group showed high ReHo in the left inferior temporal gyrus, the right middle temporal gyrus, and the right superior frontal gyrus, and low ReHo in the left thalamus (P < 0.05).No significant differences in ReHo were found between the patients with painful DPN and painless DPN (P>0.05).ConclusionsThe patients with DPN have altered ReHo in multiple brain regions and impairment of a default mode network, for which the left temporal gyrus may serve as a functional compensatory brain area. ReHo disturbance in the central right posterior gyrus may play a central role in the pain symptoms associated with painful DPN.

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