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Objective: We hypothesised that a reduction of circulating haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) expressing neural markers might occur in diabetes and contributes to cognitive dysfunction.

Methods: To evaluate this hypothesis we studied 15 middle-aged type 2 diabetic patients in comparison to 10 healthy age-matched adults. In all participants we evaluated cognitive performance by Mini Mental State Examination. Furthermore, we assessed the expression of the neural precursor markers Sox2 and NeuroD1 and the neural marker NeuN in circulating HSCs isolated from peripheral blood. MMSE score was lower in type 2 diabetic patients than in healthy subjects (26.55±1.07 vs 28.45±0.73, p< 0, 05).

Results: Circulating HSCs from both study groups spontaneously expressed Sox2 and NeuroD1 and NeuN. However, the expression of NeuN was lower in HSCs from diabetic patients than healthy subjects (0.57±0.21 and 1 …