Our glycaemic balance is based on the ability of the pancreatic beta cells to detect glucose and secrete insulin to maintain our blood sugar levels. If these cells malfunction, the balance is broken, and diabetes develops.
Until now, the scientific community agreed that beta cells needed the other hormone-producing cells of the pancreas to function properly. A team has now demonstrated the opposite: in adult mice whose pancreas contains only beta cells, glycaemia regulation and insulin sensitivity are even better than in standard animals.
''Until now, it was thought that the differentiated adult cells of an organism could not regenerate and reorientate themselves functionally. Pharmacologically triggering this cellular plasticity could therefore form the basis of an entirely new therapy for diabetes. But what happens if all the cells of the endocrine pancreas abandon their original function to start producing insulin? It is what we wanted to find out in our new study,'' explains Pedro Herrera.
Multiple types of beta cells produce insulin in the pancreas, helping to balance blood sugar levels. Losing a particularly productive type of beta cell may contribute to the development of diabetes, ...
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