Reversing Diabetes Is On The Horizon
Thursday, March 20th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Researchers at the University of Florida have been able to reverse diabetes in mice. By using a simple injection of immature cells, or stem cells, right below the skin, the mice were able to regulate the amount of glucose in the bloodstream. Cells were harvested from the pancreas that were in early stages of development and cultured in a laboratory until they developed islets of Langerhans.
The cells were then put into a syringe and injected into the mice right below the skin. Several days later, the cells began to act like normal islets of Langerhans cells, therefore, reversing diabetes. The methods that were used to produce these cells were similar to the ones used for skin grafts and other similar procedures. Only these stem cells became functional before being injected into the mice. This study lasted for three months and it was found that the immune systems of the mice did not attack the stem cells. Therefore, the researchers believe that growing cells in cultures circumvented the normal immune attack response. But they could not determine how long it would last.
Hope For Type 1 Diabetes
There are so many different ethnic groups that suffer from diabetes that finding a cure could mean growing populations everywhere around the world. This study raises the possibilities that some day there might be a cure for Type 1 diabetes. If researchers can reverse diabetes in mice by this simple procedure, then reversing diabetes in humans cannot be far away. People with diabetes are not able to regulate the amounts of glucose in their bodies; therefore, these studies are very encouraging. These same researchers are now trying to replicate this procedure with human cells and the studies involving primates will begin soon. The primate testing will give researchers a better idea of some of the potential problems with humans.
Approximately three quarters of a million people suffer from Type 1 diabetes in the United States, and 5 to 10 percent of all diabetes cases in the United States are Type 1 diabetes. The Type 1 diabetes can lead to fatal complications such as heart attacks, strokes and even blindness for these sufferers. Finding a way of reversing diabetes in humans can prove to be a major breakthrough and longer lives for thousands of individuals. Finding a cure for a disease such as diabetes is a phenomenal event. Hopefully, the answers will be here sooner rather than later in our lifetime.
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