Very new treatment for diabetes

Current research suggests new approaches to diabetes treatment

05/28/2014

Anyone who has developed obesity usually has a hard time reducing their body weight to a normal level. Losing weight is usually much harder than increasing. This also depends on the latest findings with the signals that are sent from the brain. In addition, be „Certain brain areas, such as the hypothalamus, play a crucial role in the control of blood sugar levels“, reports the director of the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at Helmholtz Zentrum München, Professor Matthias Tschöp.

Once the neuronal circuits are disturbed, researchers may also contribute to the emergence of type 2 diabetes as well as pancreatic dysfunction or impaired insulin secretion. Scientists at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Systems Biology Center at Harvard University have now received a report from „World Online“ Further evidence was found of how the signal exchange between the brain, the digestive tract and the sugar metabolism works. This could possibly lead to new treatment approaches.

Intestinal flora more crucial than the stomach volume
According to the latest article in the news journal, the US researchers investigated in their study the effects of a so-called gastric bypass in mice. The surgically placed gastric bypass bypasses most of the stomach so that ingested food, together with digestive juices, is channeled directly into the small intestine. The customer success after this radical intervention are usually considerable. The feeling of hunger of those affected normalizes and also the sugar metabolism develops very positively. Often the effects on the sugar metabolism are already evident before the onset of weight loss. The effect of this treatment method has so far been brought mainly in connection with the reduction of the gastric volume. But the US scientists were able to prove that the signal transmission in the direction of the brain is apparently more related to the altered intestinal flora than to the reduced gastric volume.

Signal exchange with the brain
Researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the Systems Biology Center at Harvard University have implanted the intestinal flora of obese-and-gastric-bypass mice to assess their effects on body weight and glucose metabolism „World Online“. The results were quite surprising. The animals showed similar effects as mice that had gastric bypass. This seems to confirm that gastric volume exerts less influence than previously thought. The intestinal flora, however, seems much more important for signal exchange between the digestive tract and the brain than previously thought. Although the French physician Claude Bernard 1854 had found evidence for the control of sugar metabolism by the brain, but this came after the discovery of insulin in 1921 again forgotten, writes „World Online“. Since then, insulin production has been regarded as a key determinant of the onset of diabetes.

Control of sugar metabolism by the brain
While type 1 diabetes as an autoimmune disease is indeed characterized by an absolute lack of insulin, which so far can only be treated by medication, type 2 diabetes (also called adult-onset diabetes) is referred to as a relative insulin deficiency, which is determined by various factors , Lack of exercise and obesity are considered to be major risk factors. However, the intestinal flora and the control of sugar metabolism by the brain seem to have a much greater significance than previously thought. Professor Tschöp concludes that blood sugar regulation relies on a working partnership between the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas and the neuronal circuits in the hypothalamus of the brain.

Award for the development of new therapeutic approaches
Diabetes is a multi-organ disease in which signals from all organs are continuously transmitted to the brain, explained Professor Tschöp. In the brain, the information would be processed and signals transmitted to all metabolically active cells. In this way, once again, control of the sugar metabolism by the brain takes place. „Both the pancreas and adipose tissue and brain play a key role in diabetes“, cited „World Online“ Prof. Tschöp. At the end of April, the diabetes researcher was awarded the Paul Martini Prize 2014 for his scientific achievements in the identification and development of new therapy concepts for diabetes and obesity. „With his pioneering breakthroughs in drug modulation of the metabolic hormone system, Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Tschöp contributed significantly to novel treatment strategies against the widespread widespread diseases“, reports the Helmholtz Zentrum München. (Fp)