Diabetic Mouse Cured — Is This Hope For Humans Too?

Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes believe they have a cure for diabetes in sight. By injecting reprogrammed skin cells into the pancreas of a diabetic mouse, they found that the mouse was once again able to produce insulin and regulate its own levels. According to Dr. Deepak Srivastava, a supervisor on the project, this unprecedented result should inspire hope for a possible cure in anyone afflicted with the disease.

There are three main types of diabetes:

Diabetes Type 1 – You produce no insulin at all. Diabetes Type 2 – You don’t produce enough insulin, or your insulin is not working properly. Gestational Diabetes – You develop diabetes just during your pregnancy. (World Health Organization)

Diabetes Types 1 and 2 are chronic medical conditions – this means that they are persistent and perpetual. Gestational Diabetes usually resolves itself after the birth of the child.

All types of diabetes are treatable, however Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes last a lifetime; there is no known cure. The patient receives regular insulin, which became medically available in 1921. The treatment for a patient with Type 1 is mainly injected insulin, plus some dietary and exercise adherence.

Patients with Type 2 diabetes are usually treated with tablets, exercise and a special diet, but sometimes insulin injections are also required.

If diabetes is not adequately controlled the patient has a significantly higher risk of developing complications, such as hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis, and non-ketotic hypersosmolar coma. Longer term complications could be cardiovascular disease, retinal damage, chronic kidney failure, nerve damage, poor healing of wounds, gangrene on the feet which may lead to amputation, and erectile dysfunction.

Learn more about this major breakthrough in this video.

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