Narrator:
The Diabetes Research Institute presents a series of reports on the latest progress in cure-focused research – promising discoveries aimed at restoring natural insulin production in those living with diabetes.
Reporter:
Managing type 1 diabetes is a difficult, delicate balancing act – trying to keep your blood sugar in a narrow, normal range -- without going too high or too low.
When it does drop too low – a condition called hypoglycemia – a person can become disoriented, pass out, and in rare cases, even die.
Now, scientists at the Diabetes Research Institute
-- in collaboration with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden -- are learning more about how the body maintains normal blood sugar levels and is able to protect against these frightening and debilitating lows. Their research was featured on the cover of the prestigious scientific journal, Cell Metabolism.
Dr. Per-Olof Berggren is a senior investigator on this study. He says in people without diabetes, the body releases the hormone “glucagon” to increase glucose production and prevent low blood sugar.
Berggren:
“If we can get a handle on to understand why glucagon release is not working, which is the case in diabetes, then we also may be able to define a possibility to take care of that problem.”
Reporter:
To understand how they might accomplish that, you first need to know about a cluster of cells in the pancreas, called islets. Within the islets are beta cells. They secrete insulin. And that helps lower blood sugar.
There are also alpha cells. They secrete a hormone called glucagon. That raises blood sugar levels.
So, beta cells make insulin, which lowers blood sugar. And alpha cells make glucagon, which raises blood sugar.
Dr. Berggren explains that, in people without diabetes, these two types of cells are dependent on each other to regulate blood sugar levels. For example, when a person eats a meal, blood sugar levels begin to rise. Beta cells release insulin so blood sugars will not go too high.
Berggren:
“Under these conditions where insulin is pumped out of the beta cell, the insulin secreting beta cell turns off the glucagon cell. So the glucagon cell is under the regulation from the insulin cell.”
Reporter:
But with type 1 diabetes, beta cells have been destroyed. And without beta cells, the alpha cells’ release of glucagon is uncontrolled. Alpha cells also secrete a chemical called glutamate. Glutamate helps the alpha cells secrete more glucagon.
Berggren:
“There will be a constant secretion of glucagon and glutamate from the alpha cell. The hypothesis that we have put forward is that this leads to a desensitization of the glutamate receptors. In other words, these proteins on the alpha cell surface that can sense glutamate, these can no longer sense glutamate because they are desensitized.”
Reporter:
If this process continues, the alpha cells are chronically desensitized. They lose their ability to produce glucagon. So the body is no longer able to protect against lows. Such is the case for people with type 1 diabetes.
Berggren:
“They are not able to, in an efficient way, up regulate their glucose again.”
Reporter:
So, how will this research help them?
Berggren:
"If our hypothesis is correct, it means that we may start to have a handle on why glucose counter regulation is not working in the diabetic situation. So I think that this could mean a lot for the patient.”
Narrator:
This has been a production of the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. For more information, or to show your support for the Diabetes Research Institute, call 1-800-321-3437.
You also may donate online at
diabetesresearch.org.