stem cells and diabetes the present. background diabetes affects more people and causes more deaths...
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Stem Cells and Diabetes
The Present
Background
Diabetes affects more people and causes more deaths each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined.
The American Diabetes Association estimates that 16 million people, 5.9% of the U.S. population, currently has some type of diabetes.
What is diabetes?
group of diseases abnormally high levels of glucose in the
blood possible complications include blindness,
stroke, kidney failure, heart disease, poor circulation, and amputation
Type 1 Diabetes
juvenile-onset
typically affects children and young adults immune system attacks and destroys
beta cells (β cells) in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas that normally produce insulin
glucose does not enter the cells and therefore accumulates in the blood
Type 2 Diabetes
adult-onset diabetes typically affects older, sedentary, and
overweight individuals with a family history of diabetes
body cannot use insulin effectively due to insulin resistance, glucose
accumulates in the blood
Role of Pancreas in Diabetes
What is insulin? peptide hormone synthesized within the β cells of the islets of
Langerhans located in the pancreas affects metabolism and other body functions causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat
tissue to take up glucose from the bloodstream
Role of Pancreas in Diabetes
Question:
In type I diabetics, is it possible to get cells to produce insulin? two possible sources of cells
• existing cells
• adult stem cells
What are adult stem cells?
They are: undifferentiated cells that occur in
differentiated tissue able to make identical copies of
themselves able to yield specialized cell types of the
tissue from which they originated do not replicate indefinitely in culture
Researchers are Investigating:
Is it possible to activate the differentiation of adult stem cells present in the pancreas in order to produce needed insulin in type I diabetics?
What advantage/disadvantage would this have over organ/islet transplantation or insulin injection?
Researchers Would Need to Know:
Are there adult stem cells present in the pancreas that differentiate into beta cells?
Are adult pancreatic beta cells formed by self-duplication, stem cell differentiation, or a combination of the two processes?
Mouse-Model Study
A pulse-chase experiment performed by Professor Douglas Melton and his team provides important information about how beta cells are replaced.
Keep in mind that cells are replaced by:
Adult stem cells Mitotic division of existing cells Combination of the two