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diabetiesModerator: BioTeam
28 posts • Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
Insulin and the pancreas
Insulin is a hormone produced by special cells (called beta cells) in the pancreas. Hormones are chemical messengers that circulate in the blood sending messages to other parts of the body. The pancreas is located deep in the upper part of the abdomen behind the stomach . The pancreas has two main functions: 1. Digestion of food the pancreas produces enzymes that are released into the bowel after a meal to help digestion of food. Diabetes does not affect this part of the pancreas. 2. Production of hormones there are groups of cells in the pancreas called islets of Langerhans that produce a variety of hormones insulin and glucagon are two important ones. These hormones help to regulate energy in the body. In diabetes the cells that make insulin (the beta cells) are damaged. Transplant of Pancreas is possible, but the better solution to diabetes through direct: replacement of damaged beta cells(Type1). For further details for pancreas transplant check http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 003007.htm Thank You Dip Jyoti Chakraborty Last edited by dipjyoti on Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
Are beta cell transplants only for Type 1[Type 1 or insulin—dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)]?
This is in doubt. Although those with Type 1 diabetes (where beta cells are destroyed) are the most obvious to benefit from these transplants, there may be hope for Type2 as well. In about 15% of those with Type 2 diabetes, the cause of their diabetes appears to be destruction of beta cells just as in Type 1, and islet cell antibodies, characteristic of Type 1, can be detected. Although the immune system is slower to wreak havoc when people are older, the cause of the diabetes is identical to those who get it as children. So for some 10% to 20% of all those who have diabetes, beta cell transplants look promising. What about the rest? Here, the picture gets a little muddier. Most people with Type 2 diabetes develop their disease, at least initially, not because beta cells are lost, but because of resistance to insulin. Over time, the beta cells gradually get worn down because they have to produce so much excess insulin. As beta cells die from "overworking", their loss contributes to the rising blood sugars, but the underlying insulin resistance is still the major problem. Beta cell transplants would probably help to keep the blood sugar better controlled (and this itself lessens resistance to insulin), but beta cell transplants do not correct the underlying insulin resistance. Thank You. Dip Jyoti Chakraborty
so how do they develop the resistance on a cellular level? I am thinking maybe they have less receptors? If so, positively improving the production of receptor proteins might be a way to go
"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter
Diabetes insipidus is a problem with the antidiuretic hormone produced by the pancreas - this directly affects water reabsorption in the kidneys, among other things, and produces the excessive urination that gives all diabetes types their name.
On the other diabetes issues being discussed, beta cell replacement is unlikely to work for Type I, since the immune system is killing beta cells - it kills off new ones as well. And Type 2 will, in my opinion, be subdivided into at least 5 distinctly different diseases some time in the next decade - there is no one thing that produces it, or any simple thing that treats it. For some, it's lowered insulin production at work; for others, it is fewer insulin receptors being made; for others, receptors are made but don't seem to work properly; and still yet, the variety of insulin receptors among the liver, muscles, and fat cells seems to shift in frequency in some cases. And those aren't all of the possibilities...
the antidiuretic hormone is not produced by the pancreas. it is produced by the hypothalamus and temporary stored in the posterior pituitary gland, then released into the body from there...
"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter
Indeed... You can have 'cranial' diabetes incipidus where there is no production of ADH... Or you can have 'nephrogenic' diabetes incipidus where there is production of ADH but the hormone doesn't work on the V2 receptors...
That's interesting - I hadn't heard of the problem at the receptor end, but it makes sense that it would happen. The nephrogenic version - is that fairly rare, or is it something that might be common but they're just starting to differentiate?
Re: diabeties
My nephew is diabetic. Several years ago he had kidney failure and was put on dialysis. He finally got a kidney transplant. The doctor told him that he needed a pancreas transplant also. Without a new pancreas, the new kidney would eventually go bad. So sometime later he got the pancreas transplant. Since then He has not had any insulin. However, he is supposed to watch his diet some but he doesn't have to take any insulin.
It would be quite an easy thing to differenciate as all you have to do is measure the ADH levels in the blood but diabetes insipidis is rare compared to diabetes mellitus...
i'm not sure what you are asking?
Re: diabeties
http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-dia ... idneys.htm
link will show u about How Diabetes Affects the Kidneys -------------------------------------- endocrine system
28 posts • Page 2 of 3 • 1, 2, 3
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