Objective:To explore the structural alterations in functional brain areas of patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and to investigate the abnormal region of grey matter and its distribution in DPN.Methods:A total of 124 patients with DPN and 88 patients with type 2 diabetes without DPN (NDPN) diagnosed in Haikou Hospital and the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University from June 2019 to December 2020 were selected as the study subjects, and 40 healthy volunteers matched with gender and age were included as the control group.All subjects underwent whole-brain MRI examination, and 3D-T1WI data were collected for post-processing and analysis based on voxel morphological analysis.Results:Compared with NDPN patients, decreased gray matter volume in DPN patients was observed in the bilateral anterior central gyrus and thalamus, with statistical signifcant difference ( P<0.05), and there was no significant difference between the two sides ( P>0.05). Compared with healthy control group, decreased gray matter volume in DPN was observed in the the bilateral anterior central gyrus, central posterior gyrus, superior frontal gyrus and thalamus, with statistical signifcant difference ( P<0.05) and there was no significant difference between the two sides ( P>0.05). Conclusions:DPN patients also have decreased volumes of the brain greymatter, suggesting that the occorrence of DPN patients may be caused by the of injury of central structure.