A team of Chinese and American scientists has developed a type of “smart insulin,” of which just one injection succeeds in regulating blood glucose levels for up to a full week, giving new hope to millions of people with diabetes in the world.
A team from Zhejiang University in China, in cooperation with two colleagues from North Carolina State University in the United States, tested this type of insulin on models of mice and small pigs, according to what was reported by the website medicalxpress.com, which specializes in medicine. In their research paper, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, Researchers describe how “smart insulin” is made, how it works, and how well it performs when given to diabetic mice and piglets.
What is diabetes?
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin. Treatment for people with this disease includes a modified diet and regular injections of insulin. Many diabetics have to inject themselves more than once a day, which is both a painful and difficult regimen, as the skin at the injection sites tends to harden over time, making it difficult to insert a needle.
Because of these difficulties, medical researchers have continued to search for new treatment options. In this new effort, the research team has developed a type of insulin that interacts with certain factors in the body, allowing automatic control of blood glucose levels for a long period of time.
Modified insulin
The new “smart insulin” is a modified form of the type of insulin already in use. Researchers have added gluconic acid, which when injected into the body turns into a compound; Because it binds to chemicals in the blood. Such complexes cause insulin to be trapped within a natural polymer, leading to changes in signaling. It releases different amounts of insulin depending on blood glucose levels. The research team found that this allows more insulin to be automatically released into the blood when it is needed (for example after a meal) and less when it is not needed.
Encouraging results
The researchers tested the modified insulin on three dwarf pigs and five mice, all of which had diabetes. Two of the piglets received a high dose, while the third received a low dose.
In monitoring the test animals over the following weeks, the research team found that the piglets given the low dose showed more stable blood glucose regulation than the piglets given the high dose and also compared to the piglets in the control group given daily injections of standard insulin.
The researchers suggest that their findings bode well for a new type of treatment for patients with type 1 diabetes. Researchers will continue to test “smart insulin” on animals. If all goes well, they will move on to human trials.
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