Based on this association of T2DM and Alzheimer’s disease in humans along with the observed locomotor neurologic impairment of the NGR rats with advanced diabetes, we decided to investigate the brains of the NGR fed the hiCHO diet, looking for histological evidence of neurodegenerative disease similar to those seen in humans, involving aggregates of aberrant proteins such as beta-amyloid, alpha-synuclein, hyperphosphorylated tau or aberrant neuronal enzymes. Here, SNCA is linked to neurodegenerative disease.