Toronto’s Next Gift to the World
Toronto: the city that keeps on giving.
As a timely follow-up to Toronto’s 7th Gift to the World, the latest issue of the scientific journal Cell has published research conducted by a joint team from The Hospital for Sick Children, the University of Calgary and The Jackson Laboratory of Bar Harbor, Maine, presenting a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes.
The group found that removal of certain sensory neurons can prevent diabetes in mice, even reverse it. (Now just how cool is that?) Their research shows that “diabetes is controlled by abnormalities in the sensory nociceptor (pain-related) nerve endings in the pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin.” In Captain Dummy talk it means that when pain receptors in the nerve endings of pancreatic cells ain’t working, then the pancreas ain’t producing enough insulin.
Long thought to be an autoimmune system disease (a disease caused by the body’s own immune system attacking itself), the group’s insightful research sheds light to the possibility that diabetes could very well be linked to the nervous system. Scientists believe this discovery could lead to new avenues of of research, and utimately, treatment of the disease.
It’s important to note that the group’s research focused on Type 1 diabetes, though they are now extending their research to include the more prevalent Type 2 diabetes.
From this good news, I believe that curing diabetes just became very possible within my lifetime.
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I saw this on the news, but they didn’t explain it as well as you did. This is exciting stuff! Let’s hope it translates to humans!!