Browse: Home / Diabetes / Maybe you don’t need more beta cells to fix type 2 diabetes

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Better Body Chemistry School
  • Book a health conversation
  • Speaking query
  • The “Big” Spoons
Header image

BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

advertisement

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Free Resources
    • 31 days to Better Body Chemistry
    • Willpower Report
    • Weight loss e-course
    • Better Body Chemistry for Expecting Moms
    • The ups and downs of insulin resistance
    • Candy Floss Boards
    • Weight tracker
  • Library
  • Shop
  • Lucky dip
  • Sound bites
  • Buy me a coffee
  • Contact

Maybe you don’t need more beta cells to fix type 2 diabetes

Posted by Dr Sandy on in Diabetes | 219 Views | Leave a response
WhatsApp
Reddit
Share
More
Tweet
Pin
Share

Share Button

Click to listen to the audio…

Maybe you don’t need new beta cells

scientists attempting to rejuvenate a beta cell

Islet transplantation studies, suggest older beta cells, are NOT irreparably broken – all they need, to get their groove back is a little TLC. Rejuvenate yours..

Getting older, is definitely NOT for sissies.

A multitude of body parts……………FAIL.

Among the parts, failing are the beta cells of the pancreas. This fail has big consequences.

Glucose intolerance.

Then type 2 diabetes and all its nasty consequences.

Glucose management 

The current fix, for someone with type 2 diabetes,  is to outsource the job, of glucose management, using medication.

It works….. up to a point.

But, the uncomfortable truth is, good glycemic control is NOT ENOUGH,  to stop the progression of the disease.

So most people with type 2 diabetes, dream of “fixing” their beta cells.

New beta cells please

And, there are legions of scientists, who share this dream, they  are working towards, “getting them back”, one way or another.

But this begs the question – are the beta cells really DEAD / BROKEN ?

This is what a team of  Korean researchers dared ask – their answer, was somewhat surprising…….

Old beta cells don’t NEED fixing – they’re actually quite capable and competent.

Something else needs to BE FIXED.

Old beta cells get rejuvenated

To arrive at this unexpected conclusion,  the research team, did something quite radical, they performed a beta islet cell transplantation, with OLD islets.

Cartoon version of islets of Langerhans

NOTE :  Islets are not beta cells, they are irregular patches of endocrine tissue, found in the pancreas, there are millions of them.  Beta cells are just one of the distinct cell types found in islets.

The islets they used, had spent their best days, in male C57BL/6 mice, but since the mice (and beta cells) were already 18 months old,  which is middle aged for a mouse, these beta cells were “past their prime”.

Now they weren’t KAPUT.

These middle aged animals were not diabetic, but they were a little glucose intolerant.

Glucose tolerance test with different glycemic loads

Glucose tolerance tests with young and aged mice with different glucose loads.  © 2014 Joana Almaça et al

When they got a very big sugar rush, the sugar levels spiked.  Normal sugar levels were dutifully handled.   The solid brown dots reflect the glycemic response, to  4 g/kg glucose of older animals, the green dots for young animals.

Islet transplantation

In this study, to DO the islet transplantation,  individual islets of Langerhans,  were carefully removed,  and popped into the anterior chamber of the eye, of a young  mice.

If you’re thinking…the chamber of the eye, gross !

The reason, the islets are put inside the eye, is because eyes, make a great nursery for the transplanted islets,  they are INSIDE the body i.e. warm and cozy, but hidden away from the immune system of the animal, they’ve been put in.

immune cells trying to get into anterior chamber of the eye

NOTE : This is why beta cell transplants have not gone mainstream.  If a trigger happy immune system had destroyed the natural islets, which is what happens in type 1 diabetics,  transplanted cells arrive with a target on their back.  Their days are NUMBERED.

Inside the anterior chamber of the eye

From this sanctuary, the beta cells, within the islets can hunker down and do what they do –  make insulin, in response to circulating glucose levels.

None of this is new technology…………..what makes this study, “different’, is the age of the islets.

Rescuing diabetic mice

It’s been known for some time, that young islets,  successfully rescue mice, that have been made diabetic, thanks to treatment with a beta cell killing “drug”, streptozotocin.  Granted, it usually takes them a few days to get into the groove – but once they find their groove, they are able to produce enough insulin, to “cure” the diabetes.

But, our team was using OLD islets.

Remember they weren’t KAPUT, but they weren’t in pristine condition, either.

Would they work ?

Yip.  In fact, they worked remarkably well.  The results are shown below….

Glycemic response of transplanted islets

Average glycemia during glucose tolerance tests performed at 3, 4.5, 7, and 10 months after transplantation in young mice  with young islets (green) and  old islets (brown).  © 2014 Joana Almaça et al.

For the old islets, it is a shaky start, but in the end, old islets get it right.

Exciting stuff !

The beta cells are NOT irreparably broken.

For human oldies, facing glucose tolerance issues – THIS IS GOOD NEWS !

This study hints, that all those old islets need, is a little TLC, to find their groove….

Beta cells find their groove

Our team had a hunch, the TLC the islets needed, was a blood vessel upgrade.  Something that seamlessly happens, in young animals, but often gets bogged down, in the aged.

When the team looked at the transplanted islets, it was clear…….the islets had expanded.

transplanted islets in anterior chamber of the eye

Old islet grafts in young recipient mice show strong proliferative activity. © 2014 Joana Almaça et al.

This is the photo of the same graft, taken at 3 months and then again, 9 months.  The little asterix marks the position of the pupil.

Now this expansion was accompanied by the refurbishment of the blood vessels.

Images of blood vessels in transplanted islets

Longitudinal in vivo images of blood vessels in an old islet graft. © 2014 Joana Almaça et al.

The little squiggles, show the blood vessels.

Both the density and the diameters of the blood vessels improved.

Better plumbing means better beta cells

The TLC, provided by the eye chamber, involved an improved blood supply, hinting “good” beta cell function, hinges on a good blood supply.

If your beta cells, are struggling, there’s a good chance, their blood supply is poor.

What can you do, if anything,  to help them ?

Rejuvenating blood vessels is an option

Sounds kind of hard………but, it is not, blood vessels are continuously being remodelled.  Even in oldies !

macrophages doing a little blood vessel remodelling

You just need to create the “right” signals.

Angiogenesis

The process of making NEW blood vessels, from existing capillary beds,  is called angiogenesis.    It is a tightly orchestrated process, which involves

  • endothelial cell proliferation,
  • migration,
  • invasion, and
  • new tube formation.

Now there are half a dozen signals – telling the cells that line the blood vessels,  “what to do”.

But, the process is  first and foremost – DEMAND driven.

Where cells DEMAND oxygen, blood vessel appear.

So………… if you can drive up demand,  you can remodel blood vessels.

The good news

You can drive up demand, with a serious session of pushing and pulling, at the gym.

If pushing and pulling, is beyond, you……….it can be “hacked”.

Watch this video on Remote ischemic preconditioning, RIPre for short.  The focus of this video, is on helping the heart, but what works for the heart, will work for beta cells, too.

Any strategy that “gets the blood flowing” – will help, your beta cells, get THEIR GROOVE ON.

Share Button
Young capillary vessels rejuvenate aged pancreatic islets. Proceedings National Academy Science (2014)  111 (49) 17612–17617. Joana Almaça, Judith Molina, Rafael Arrojo e Drigoc, Midhat H. Abdulreda, Won Bae Jeon, Per-Olof Berggren, Alejandro Caicedoa, and Hong Gil Nam. 

Further reading

leg fidgeting

A little leg work is all that it takes to protect from atherosclerosis

Sitting stops leg blood flow, but if you fidget, you can improve blood flow- it turns out, tiny muscle contractions are better than NO, muscle contractions.

insulin struggling to open blood vessel

Could a little bump on a blood vessel be the reason you’re insulin resistant ?

Insulin needs wide blood vessels to work, but widening blood vessels causes blood pressure to drop – the carotid body, keeps things in balance. Hopefully.

sun easing the pressure

Sunshine stops blood vessels feeling pressurized

Your blood pressure is UP. Your instinct says, this CAN be fixed, with a little sun, sea and surf. You’re half right. All you need is the sun, to distress

 

Want to discover more ways to create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY ?

WhatsApp
Reddit
Share
More
Tweet
Pin
Share
Posted in Diabetes | Tagged angiogenesis, beta cells, blood flow, blood vessels, exercise, eye, glucose intolerance, glycemic control, islets, oxygen demand, pancreas, transplantation, type 2 diabetes

Sugar gremlins are REAL

Connect with us

facebook you tube pinterest 40 google plus 40 Linkedin

willpower report
  • Popular
  • Featured
  • Recent
  • asprosin the sugar plum fairy

    Why sugar levels are high despite NOT eating

    19386 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    19071 views / Posted
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    18755 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16604 views / Posted
  • carbonated water bubbles fill you up

    Fizzing up the water flattens your appetite

    15364 views / Posted
  • sun extracting cholesterol

    Make sure you have your “annual” check-up in the summer time

    / Dr Sandy
  • sending your kid to bootcamp won't stop childhood obesity

    Moving more won’t stop your kid from getting fat

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol at the scene of the accident

    Bone cells are stiffening up your arteries not cholesterol

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain size the problem in ADHD

    Are kids with ADHD just acting according to their brain age

    / Dr Sandy
  • plastering the blood vessel with calcium

    Calcium supplements are building bones and breaking hearts

    / Dr Sandy
  • corona virus sporting his beautiful crown

    How to overcome long covid sooner rather than later

    / Dr Sandy
  • the metabolic big 5 of health

    The big 5 of health is an out dated concept

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol scratching a unwell heart

    A cholesterol level in the normal range won’t guarantee no heart troubles

    / Dr Sandy
  • Missing image

    Metabolically healthy obese are not doomed

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain being drained of energy by a cell phone

    Chatting on your mobile phone might be making you fat !

    / Dr Sandy

RSS Recent posts

Dr Sandy Dr Sandy Evans, PhD

Located in Johannesburg, South Africa

Book an appointment with Spoonful of Science using SetMore
Disclaimer : The stories and articles are provided as a service. Dr Sandy's opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
 
 

Connect with Dr Sandy

facebook 40
you tube 40
pinterest 40
google plus 40
linkedin 40
meetup 40
 

Categories

Featured posts

  • asprosin the sugar plum fairy

    Why sugar levels are high despite NOT eating

    19386 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    19071 views / Posted
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    18755 views / Posted
 

©2011-2022 Spoonful of Science

Menu

  • Meet Dr Sandy
  • Disclosure/disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Comment policy
  • Contact
Redirect Stakk
Thank You

Beat your SUGAR CRAVINGS, using biology, NOT psychology

Download our FREE REPORT entitled, "How to get the Willpower you Need to Trump Sugar's Power"

  • Do you have a sugar gremlin ?
  • Discover the biology behind sugar gremlins
  • Learn about the 10 weapons you can use to TAME YOUR SUGAR GREMLIN

Get instant access

WhatsApp
Reddit
Share
More
Tweet