Insuli

Poor prenatal nutrition permanently damages function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas

Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered one reason why infants with low birth weight have a high potential of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In studies of mice, the researchers found that poor prenatal nutrition impairs the pancreas's ability to later secrete enough insulin in response to blood glucose. "The bottom line is that if you don't have delivery of enough...

PCRM develops world's first cruelty-free insulin assay

If you're an organization dedicated to humane alternatives to the use of animals in research and you want to conduct research of your own that requires using animals as part of the testing, what do you do? In the case of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, you invent your own test. PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., announced today that PCRM has developed the world's first...

Stem cells from brain transformed to produce insulin at Stanford

With careful coaxing, stem cells from the brain can form insulin-producing cells that mimic those missing in people with diabetes, according to a paper published in the April 26 issue of PLoS Medicine. Although the work is not yet ready for human patients, Seung Kim, MD, PhD, the lead author and assistant professor of developmental biology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, sai...

NIH Researchers Discover How Insulin Allows Entry of Glucose Into Cells

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have discovered the critical sequence of events by which insulin stimulates the entry of glucose into fat cells. The study, appearing in the May 9 Journal of Cell Biology, was conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases....

Mouse with designer liver has enhanced glucose tolerance, insulin response

A collaborative effort led by The Burnham Institute's Gen-Sheng Feng has created a mouse with improved glucose tolerance and insulin activity in the liver, and generated new findings about insulin-signaling in the liver that could prove useful in understanding the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. These results, to be published by Nature Medicine in May, were made available to the scientific commu...

Scientists find that protein controls aging by controlling insulin

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that a protein prolonging life in mice works by controlling insulin. Therapies based on this hormone could prove to be a way to extend life or slow its effects,...

Insulin pulses keep the liver lean

Insulin, a hormone long recognized as a generator of fat, also keeps fat in the liver under control, according to a new study in the July issue of Cell Metabolism. The newly discovered role for insulin may explain how an organ frequently flooded with the fat-building hormone normally stays trim and also suggests new dietary strategies and treatments to avoid fatty liver, a growing healthcare epid...

UCSD study clarifies insulin's role in blocking release of energy in patients with type II diabetes

Chronically high levels of insulin, as is found in many people with obesity and Type II diabetes, may block specific hormones that trigger energy release into the body, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. Their findings, which may point to new approaches to developing improved treatment options for the disease, will be published in the Se...

New cell transplantation technique restores insulin production in diabetics

Researchers are using a new cell transplantation technique to restore the cells that produce insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. The method is minimally invasive, with few complications. The study was presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "We used ultrasound guidance to inject donor cells into the portal vein of diabetic patients,...

Hap1 protein links circulating insulin to brain circuits that regulate feeding behavior in mice

Researchers have discovered how the protein Hap1, which is abundant in the brain's hypothalamus, serves as the link between circulating insulin in the blood and the neural circuitry that controls feeding behavior in mice. Illumination of the neural pathway used by hormones to regulate appetite and eating behavior could eventually provide new drug targets for treating eating disorders and o...

Insulin receptor stops progression of Alzheimer's disease

Stimulation of a receptor in the brain that controls insulin responses has been shown to halt or diminish the neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease, providing evidence that the disease can be treated in its early stages, according to a study by researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School. Researchers have found that peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) ag...

Replacing insulin is top-ranked breakthrough foreseen for health in developing world

Eliminating the need for costly insulin injections for diabetics, regenerating heart muscle after it fails, and improving resistance to disease by engineering immune cells top a list of 10 potential breakthroughs for health in developing countries seen emerging from the new world of regenerative medicine, according to a study published today in the prestigious journal Public Library of Science (P...

Adult stem cells from human cord umbilical cord blood successfully engineered to make insulin

The researchers announced their laboratory finding, which caps nearly four yea...