Clinical trial NCT04089332: Insulin Resistance in Adolescents
Official title: Insulin Resistance, Cognitive Health, and Perfusion of the Adolescent Brain
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Insulin Resistance
Lead sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
First posted: 2019-09-13
Enrollment: 23
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 12
Maximum age (years): 18
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The growing population of adolescents with insulin resistance (IR) is predicted to create a large public health burden in the next few decades. This study examines the function of brain blood vessels and cognitive function, to test if increasing severity of IR in adolescents is related to reduced cognitive function and reduced brain blood vessel function. Findings from this study may help create treatments to delay or prevent some of the negative effects of IR on cognitive and vascular health.

Detailed description: One in five American adolescents is obese. Up to half of those are already exhibiting insulin resistance (IR), a hallmark of metabolic syndrome and diabetes linked to serious life-altering health disorders, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. In adults, IR negatively affects brain structure and function and is reflected in lower regional brain volumes, perfusion, increased white matter hyperintensities and abnormal neuropsychological status, especially affecting memory and attention-all changes associated with accelerated cognitive and brain aging and increased risk of dementia. In an analogous fashion, a limited set of literature suggests adolescents with IR exhibit similar brain changes during maturation. The investigators hypothesize that the brains of obese adolescents are more susceptible to insults of IR during rapid brain development, positioning them on an abnormal cognitive trajectory, and predisposing them to issues related to learning, behavioral stress responses, and depression.

While the metabolic consequences of IR are well described in adolescence, the impact of IR on their neurocognitive status (intelligence, memory, attention, executive function, processing speed) and cerebrovascular function and their interactions remains largely unexplored. This is important since in addition to its classic role as a metabolic hormone, insulin acts as a vasodilator and supports neurotrophic signaling in healthy humans. Therefore, dysfunctional insulin signaling may hold tremendous influence over brain health in adolescents during this vital period of brain development. New insight is required to understand where, when, and how IR negatively transforms brain health, including whether a dose-response exists between IR severity and anomalies in brain and cognition.

The long-term goal of this research program is to determine the influence of IR on brain development in adolescents through the relationships between neurocognition and cerebral blood supply. The primary goal of the current project is to quantify fundamental neurocognitive and cerebrovascular function in relation to the severity of IR. The central hypothesis is that as IR worsens: a) subtle but meaningful neurocognitive declines emerge; b) regional brain perfusion is reduced primarily in areas linked to learning and memory despite preserved resting global cerebral blood flow (CBF); c) acute insulin surges exacerbate regional hypoperfusion, and d) cognitive scores will be lower, mediated in part by insulin-stimulated hypoperfusion.

Participants will be recruited primarily from pediatric and pediatric endocrinology clinics via our collaborator, Dr. Aaron Carrel, and his staff in UWHC Pediatric Endocrinology. Additionally, participants will be recruited from the greater Madison, WI community.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Age 12-18 years inclusive
* Typically developing and cognitively intact

Exclusion Criteria:

* Diabetes (≥126 mg dL-1 fasting glucose)
* Insulin treatment or sensitizing drugs
* Diagnosis of kidney, pulmonary, or heart disease
* Current smoking (defined as use of nicotine \>5 times in the past month)
* Pregnancy
* Neurological or developmental disorders (e.g., intellectual disability, autism)
* Significant head injury or medical conditions (e.g., concussion, encephalopathy, seizure disorder)
* Inability to undergo the MRI procedure
* Weight less than 94.5 lbs (42.9 kg) to adhere to safety guidelines regarding blood sampling and OGTT administration
* Tanner Stage \<3
* Any other circumstance deemed by the PI not addressed above

Primary outcomes:
measure: Linear Relationship Between HOMA-IR and Cognitive Function (R-squared)
timeFrame: data collected at baseline visit (HOMA-IR) and one other study visit (Cognitive Function Tests) (up to 4 hours total time of data collection over two visits - data collection not temporally dependent)
measure: Change in Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) as Determined by MRI (mL/100g/Min)
timeFrame: 1 study visit, measured at baseline and peak insulin (45-60 minutes after baseline)
measure: Linear Relationship Between Cerebral Blood Flow and Cognitive Function (R-squared)
timeFrame: data collected at baseline (CBF - up to 1 hour) and Cognitive Function data collected at another study visit (up to 3 hours), data collection over 2 study visits up to 4 hours total, data collection not temporally dependent
measure: Mediation Analysis of the Indirect Effect of Cerebral Blood Flow on Insulin Resistance and Cognitive Function
timeFrame: through study completion (up to 2 years)
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Madison
country: United States
facility: University of Wisconsin-Madison
state: Wisconsin
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Madison
name: William Schrage, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: