New discoveries could aid diabetes treatment

Scientists have made a new discovery which could aid the treatment of diabetes.

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet, in a study published in Nature Medicine, acknowledged two break-though findings.

A new signal pathway that makes the insulin-releasing beta cells more sensitive to high levels of blood glucose was identified, as was a possible solution to delay the disease by inhibiting a lipoprotein.

In the study, the scientists focussed their attention on acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter in beta cell function, finding that it is produced in the human pancreas by alpha cells which also produce glucagons.

"The fact that acetylcholine has a central part to play in the effective secretion of insulin in response to an increase in blood sugar levels and that we now understand how this substance is released by the human pancreas makes this signal pathway very interesting from a treatment perspective," explained principal investigator Professor Per-Olof Berggren.

A previous study found that reducing the production of ApoCIII using antisense therapy, diabetes onset took twice as long.