Poorva Chavan
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Written By: Poorva Chavan | Updated : February 22, 2016 10:50 AM IST
Many diabetics have to be dependent on insulin injections to prevent the complications of diabetes, but scientists now have successfully developed mini-organs that will deliver insulin whenever needed and can make way for patient-specific therapy for diabetics.
In a bid to replenish insulin-producing beta cells, scientists from the University of Harvard discovered that the tissue from the lower stomach in mice has the greatest potential to be turned into beta cells. After taking samples if this tissue from mice, they grew them into mini-organs that produced insulin once transplanted back into mice. The study was published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Qiao Zhou from Harvard explained that the tissue from the pylorus region of the mice is the easiest to convert to produce beta cells, and the tissue is the best starting material. The cells in the pylorus region were most responsive to high glucose levels and produced insulin to normalise the mouse's blood glucose. The verify the effectiveness of the tissue, the scientists destroyed the mice's pancreatic beta cells which forced the body to rely completely on this implanted tissue to produce insulin. (Read: A diet plan diabetics can use for better blood sugar control)
For the study, there was a set of control animals did not contain reprogrammed tissue. These mice died within eight weeks. The mice with reprogrammed cells could maintain glucose and insulin levels as long as six months.
Once implanted, the stem cells from the converted tissue replenished the insulin-producing cells increasing the sustainability of the tissue. To confirm their finding, the scientists destroyed the genes responsible for the conversion and found that the region's stem cells replenished the insulin producing cell population. (Read: Diabetes FAQ: What are insulin pumps?)
After isolating the tissue from the stomach, the researchers converted it to express beta cell reprogramming factors in the lab and then coaxed the cells to grow into a tiny ball of stomach that would not only produce insulin and refresh itself with stem cells. This mini stomach was then transplanted into the mice's abdominal cavity. Out of the 22 experimental animals, five animals exhibited normal glucose levels after the destruction of their pancreatic cells. (Read: 10 home remedies for diabetes that really work!)
Researchers explained that using this approach; one can biopsy from a person, grow the cells in the lab, convert them to produce insulin and then transplant them back to create a patient-specific therapy.
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