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December 15, 2006
Hope for diabetics
Exciting news out of the Great White North for diabetics: one shot may "reset" the pancreas and begin insulin production, even for sufferers of the more serious Type-I diabetes.
In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.
Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.
"I couldn't believe it," said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. "Mice with diabetes suddenly didn't have diabetes any more."
[...]
Dr. Dosch had concluded in a 1999 paper that there were surprising similarities between diabetes and multiple sclerosis, a central nervous system disease. His interest was also piqued by the presence around the insulin-producing islets of an "enormous" number of nerves, pain neurons primarily used to signal the brain that tissue has been damaged.
Suspecting a link between the nerves and diabetes, he and Dr. Salter used an old experimental trick -- injecting capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot chili peppers, to kill the pancreatic sensory nerves in mice that had an equivalent of Type 1 diabetes.
"Then we had the biggest shock of our lives," Dr. Dosch said. Almost immediately, the islets began producing insulin normally.
[...]
So next they injected the neuropeptide "substance P" in the pancreases of diabetic mice, a demanding task given the tiny size of the rodent organs. The results were dramatic.
The islet inflammation cleared up and the diabetes was gone. Some have remained in that state for as long as four months, with just one injection.
My father became a Type-I, adult-onset diabetic during the Korean War. Dad always said he thought it was the shock of almost being washed overboard in a heavy storm that caused his pancreas to shut down -- a theory that was considered highly suspect by most experts.
Now it seems that he may have been on to something. And, given Dad's fondness for extremely spicy foods, how great would it be if a dose of Tobasco to the old Islets of Langerhans frees him from 55 years of injections and insulin reactions?
Hey Doc, please pass the hot sauce -- to the FDA, ASAP.
Posted by Mike Lief at December 15, 2006 08:42 AM
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Comments
Isn't adult onset diabetes considered type II? Type I diabetes is associated with childhood onset, or am I wrong?
Posted by: dawn at January 4, 2007 01:18 PM