The American Diabetes Association and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases funded additional research on trying to get one type of pancreas cells to transform into islet insulin-producing cells. For the past decade the object of diabetes research has been on this premise. Therefore the emphasis will probably change in diabetic research.

Now, in an animal model researchers at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine have demonstrated that these pancreatic acinar cells do not become insulin-producing as previously hoped. The pancreas is made up of two compartments with different functions: there is the islet compartment with insulin-producing beta cells and the much larger exocrine compartment made up of duct cells and acinar cells that produce and send enzymes used for digestion to the intestine. Diabetes results from failure by the beta cells to create insulin. However, in controlled conditions of tissue culture, acinar cells are able synthesize insulin as well as a digestive enzyme called amylase.
Apparently the Beta cell has the most promise of being able to regenerate new Beta cells, therefore creating a shift in the focus of research toward stimulation of direct islet cell growth in live animals. Researchers are hoping that once acinar cells are taken from the live animal and put into a culture, they potentially can transform into other cell types, including beta cells and duct cells. Their hope lies in the premise that acinar cell would keep making insulin when transplanted back into the mouse.

The Penn team was able to engineer special mice with a kind of marker that selectively and permanently labeled only pancreatic acinar cells. Then surgically or chemically induced injury was caused to their pancreases. Their pancreas was then allowed to heal or regenerate itself, and scientist could follow microscopically the specific acinar cell marker in thin slices of pancreatic tissue. Their findings indicate that the acinar and islet compartments remain separate during cell regeneration in the live mice.
“Coauthors of the study are Biva M. Desai, Jennifer Oliver-Krasinski, Diva D. De Leon, Cyrus Farzad, and Nankang Hong, all from Penn along with Steven D. Leach, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by The University of Pennsylvania”

AdoptionWeek e-Magazine To subscribe visit AdoptionWeek.com