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A fat recycling system contained within pancreatic beta cells helps regulate the quantity of insulin they secrete, making them a potential target for new and novel ways to treat diabetes, according to new information appearing online in the journal Diabetologia.
The pancreas may be the organ that produces the precise amount of insulin needed by our bodies whenever we eat, however when a person develops diabetes, the production of the hormone begins to slow down, the research authors explain.
A small structure inside the pancreatic beta cells, known as the lysosome, helps break up unwanted fats and proteins so that they can be re-used. The study authors refer to it as “an intracellular recycling unit,” but when lysosomes are prevented from breaking down fat, the beta cells actually secreted more insulin.
According to study authors Gemma Pearson and Trevor Biden of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research around australia, their work is in its earliest stages. However, thus far, the outcomes appear promising, and may supply the medical community with a new method for treating diabetes.
“There are many various ways fats may be used within the beta cell C so if you stop them being recycled, you force them to be used in a different way,” Pearson, a doctoral student, said inside a statement Tuesday. “When you shift fats in the lysosome, you store them in other areas of the cell, and they become open to take part in various signaling pathways. One of these simple pathways clearly increases insulin secretion.”
“Fat molecules- can bind to proteins and activate them, creating a range of downstream events to happen,” she added. “The benefit of this particular pathway is it is only stimulated by glucose. That limits the beta cell to producing excess insulin only to cope with food, rather than night and day. Too much insulin circulating within the blood, or hyperinsulinaemia, can be quite detrimental to health in lots of respects”.
Should a medication ultimately be coded in to block fat degradation from occurring in the lysosome, Pearson explained that it would need to be fine-tuned so that it only had an impact on beta cells.
Earlier this month, researchers in the Tufts Medical Center announced that they had received a $40 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to be able to settle the ongoing debate as to whether or otherwise vitamin D could be beneficial in treating diabetes.
According to Dr. Anastassios Pittas, who is leading the new study, there is certainly little clinical evidence suggesting that the supplement may help prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. He hopes that his study, which will span several years’ time and feature 2,500 participants, will ultimately put an end to the controversy.
“Past observational research has suggested that higher levels of vitamin D may be beneficial in preventing diabetes type 2, but until this huge, randomized and controlled clinical trial is finished, we won’t determine if taking vitamin D supplements lowers the risk of diabetes,” Dr. Pittas said inside a statement.
