You might not think of diabetes when you think of muscle function. But a common diabetes drug that regulates blood sugar can also prevent muscle atrophy and muscular fibrosis which can help the elderly bounce back faster from injury or illness.
Detection of rare genetic mutation in one family could lead to better diabetes treatments miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Increasing a protein concentrated in brown fat appears to lower blood sugar, promote insulin sensitivity, and protect against fatty liver disease by remodeling white fat to a healthier state, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests. The finding, published online in Nature Communications, could eventually lead to new solutions for patients with diabetes and related conditions.
Could transforming alpha cells into beta cells treat diabetes?
Written by James Kingsland on March 4, 2021 Fact checked by Rita Ponce, Ph.D.
New research in mice suggests a novel way to treat both forms of diabetes. 1130945222 Tom Werner/Getty Images
Scientists have used synthetic antibodies to block cell receptors in the liver that normally bind to glucagon, a hormone involved in increasing the amount of glucose in the blood.
The antibodies restored normal blood glucose levels in three different mouse models of diabetes.
The treatment partly worked by transforming alpha cells in the pancreas into insulin-producing beta cells.
The researchers believe that the same approach could treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes in people.
Modifying Alpha Cells into Beta Cells Helps Treat Diabetes by Angela Mohan on March 2, 2021 at 12:29 PM
PNAS.
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, a disease characterized by a loss of beta cells in the pancreas. Beta cells produce insulin, a hormone necessary for cells to absorb and use glucose, a type of sugar that circulates in the blood and serves as cellular fuel.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body s tissues develop insulin resistance, prompting beta cells to die from exhaustion from secreting excess insulin to allow cells to take in glucose.
In Type 1 diabetes, which affects about 10 percent of the diabetic population, beta cells die from an autoimmune attack. Both kinds of diabetes lead to severely elevated blood sugar levels that eventually cause a host of possible complications, including loss of limbs and eyesight, kidney damage, diabetic coma, and death.