greater than that 37 million people America has diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, 8.4 million Americans They needed to take insulin in 2022 to lower their blood sugar. Insulin, nevertheless, is Difficult to provide Enters the body orally since it is a protein that is well destroyed within the stomach.
While researchers are developing. Anti-digestive tablets and within the stomach Skin rash which monitors blood sugar and mechanically releases insulin, probably the most reliable solution to take insulin presently is by repeated injections.
I'm a professor. Pharmacology and Toxicology At Indiana University School of Medicine, where my colleagues and I study drug delivery systems. Researching latest ways to deliver drugs into the body can improve how patients reply to and comply with treatment. An easy solution to take insulin is music to the ears of many individuals with diabetes, especially those that aren't fans of needles.
In a recent study The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, researchers engineered cells to release insulin in response to specific sound waves: music from the band Queen. Although it still has an extended solution to go, this latest system could in the future replace insulin injections with a dose of rock 'n' roll.
What is diabetes?
Diabetes is a chronic disease. It occurs when the body fails to make enough insulin or fail to answer insulin. Insulin is a hormone. When the body digests food, the pancreas does so in response to a rise in blood sugar. This vital hormone transports these sugars from the blood to muscles and tissues where they're used or stored for energy.
without insulin, Blood sugar levels remain elevated and cause symptoms including frequent urination, thirst, blurred vision and fatigue. If left untreated, this hyperglycemia might be life-threatening, resulting in organ damage and diabetic coma. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diabetes is Number 1 reason Kidney failure, lower limb amputation and adult blindness, making it the eighth most typical reason behind death within the United States.
The treatment for diabetes is easy: when the body lacks insulin, give it more insulin. Scientists have. Mastered how to make hormones.But the one effective solution to get it into the body is by direct injection. Diabetics often must carry insulin vials and needles with them wherever they go. Considering that many individuals fear needles, this will not be a perfect solution to manage the disease.
This challenge has prompted researchers to seek out latest ways to deliver insulin more easily.
What is cellular engineering?
Cells are the fundamental unit of life. Your body is made up. Hundreds of different types of cells which perform special functions. In some diabetics, the beta cells of the pancreas that make insulin are damaged or die. What if there was a solution to replace these damaged cells with latest cells that might produce insulin on demand?
That's where cellular engineering is available in. Cellular engineering Involves genetically modifying a cell to perform a particular function, resembling producing insulin. Installing the gene that makes insulin. Entering cells will not be difficult, but controlling when cells form has been a challenge. Insulin should only be made in response to high blood sugar levels after a meal, at no other time.
Scientists are exploring the concept of ​​using Ion channels – Proteins embedded within the cell membrane that regulate the flow of ions resembling calcium or chloride – like a handheld remote control device to activate cellular activity. Cells can have specific sorts of ion channels of their membranes. Activated in response to certain stimuli., resembling light, electricity, magnetic fields or mechanical stimuli. Such ion channels exist naturally as sensory devices to assist cells and organisms reply to light, magnetism, touch or sound. For example, Hair cells in the inner ear are mechanosensitive ion channels that reply to sound waves.
Combining cellular engineering with queens
Bioengineering Professor Martin Fossinger ETH Zurich, a university in Basel, Switzerland, led a recent study that used a mechanosensitive ion channel as a handheld remote control to signal cells. Make insulin in response to specific sound waves.
These “music-controlled, insulin-releasing cells” — short for music-inducible cellular control — were cultured in a lab with loudspeakers. His team experimented with several musical genres of various intensities and tempos.
His songs included pop songs resembling Michael Jackson's “Billie Jean,” Queen's “We Will Rock You” and the Eagles' “Hotel California.” Classical pieces resembling Beethoven's “Fur Alice” and Mozart's “Alla Turca” ; and movie themes resembling Soundgarden's “Live to Rise,” which was featured within the Marvel film “The Avengers.” They found that pop music in movie soundtracks had higher insulin release than classical music were capable of be stimulated, and the cells were capable of release insulin inside minutes of exposure to the song.
Caique de Abreu/E+ via Getty Images
Specifically, they found that the Queen's song “We Will Rock YouVery faithfully mimicked the speed of insulin secretion in normal pancreatic beta cells.
The team then implanted the MUSIC-controlled, insulin-releasing cells into diabetic mice. Listening to the Queen's song once a day for quarter-hour brought his blood insulin levels back to normal. Blood sugar level also returned to normal. In contrast, mice that weren't exposed to the song remained hyperglycemic.
Can music make people make insulin?
Despite these promising results, far more research is required before this musical method might be considered for producing insulin for human use.
One concern is the potential of making an excessive amount of insulin, which may cause Health problems. Fussenegger's study found that talking and background noise resembling the racket made by airplanes, lawnmowers or fire trucks didn't stimulate the insulin production system in mice. The music also needed to be played near the stomach where the music-controlled, insulin-releasing cells were implanted.
In an email, Fussenegger explained that extensive clinical trials should be conducted to make sure the efficacy and safety of the technique and the way long the cellular implants can last. As with any foreign material introduced into the body, Tissue rejection This can be a priority.
Cellular engineering may in the future provide a much-needed alternative to frequent insulin injections for thousands and thousands of individuals with diabetes worldwide. In the longer term, different cell types might be engineered to more easily release other drugs into the body.