![]() ![]() “They are critical to every aspect of development. Justin Annes, an assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, says animals have played a significant role in diabetes research. Samar Hafida, a physician at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Massachusetts, told Healthline.Įxenatide was developed after a discovery similar to Grutzner’s, when GLP-1 was found in the saliva of the Gila monster lizard.ĭr. “It helps people with diabetes by acting in the pancreas where it improves the production of insulin and lowers the production of glucagon (another pancreatic hormone that raises blood sugar), and in the stomach where it slows its motility,” Dr. One of these medications is exenatide, which uses a synthetic version of the GLP-1 hormone. There are also medications that work to lower blood sugar levels by either improving the cells’ sensitivity to insulin, eliminating sugar from the body through the kidneys, or by helping the pancreas to produce more insulin. Lifestyle changes are among the most powerful treatment options for a person with type 2 diabetes. Rashmi Mullur, assistant clinical professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), told Healthline. This is the reason why patients who are obese are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes,” Dr. This occurs because of inflammation and toxicity from too much fat in the body. The body has what we call ‘insulin resistance,’ which means that the insulin isn’t working correctly in the body. “In type 2 diabetes, the body makes some insulin but not enough to keep the blood sugar normal. Type 2 diabetes is a slowly progressive disease, where a person develops an abnormality in the way glucose (sugar) is metabolized in the body. In the United States, more than 29 million people have diabetes, with type 2 diabetes accounting for at least 90 percent of diagnosed cases. ![]() What we’re hoping is it could be beneficial in the disease context,” he said. “We’re hoping hundreds of millions of years of evolution has fine-tuned this molecule. He said it’s possible one of Australia’s most iconic animals could be the answer for more effective and safer treatment options for type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases. We saw within the platypus that there’s a change in the sequence that would suggest that it’s not degraded, and that was a big surprise because usually in a lot of other mammals you look at, it’s all the same sequence and it all gets degraded,” Grutzner said. “These hormones have a really short life… they degrade within minutes. It stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin and lower blood glucose levels. ![]() This is normally secreted in the guts of both animals and humans. It’s the venom of the platypus that Grutzner, a genetics lecturer at the University of Adelaide in Australia, is particularly interested in.Īfter analyzing the genes of the platypus, Grutzner and his colleagues discovered that the creature’s venom contained the metabolic hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). In addition, it sweats milk to feed its babies, and the male has stingers on its heels that carry venom strong enough to paralyze small animals. It also hunts by sensing electrical signals in the hearts of its prey. The platypus is one of only two mammals that lays eggs. The oddness of the creature doesn’t stop at physical appearance either. It seemed like a bizarre combination of a duck, an otter, and a beaver. The first scientists to study the platypus thought the creature was a joke. Grutzner isn’t a stranger to odd animals, having studied the puffer fish for his doctorate degree, but the platypus has intrigued him from day one. ![]()
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