A team of researchers who were funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Canadian Diabetes Association did a study on the role of GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, an amino acid produced by beta cells in the pancreas. They found that GABA injections not only prevented diabetes in mice, but even reversed the disease.
The significance of GABA is that it corrects both known causes of Type 1 diabetes in mice: It works in the pancreas to regenerate insulin-producing beta cells and it acts on the immune system to stop the destruction of those cells. Those two actions are necessary to reverse the disease and prevent its recurrence.
This study is the first to identify and describe GABA’s importance in regulating the survival and function of pancreatic beta cells in mice, and they say it might lead to a cure for Type 1.
Article Here
The significance of GABA is that it corrects both known causes of Type 1 diabetes in mice: It works in the pancreas to regenerate insulin-producing beta cells and it acts on the immune system to stop the destruction of those cells. Those two actions are necessary to reverse the disease and prevent its recurrence.
This study is the first to identify and describe GABA’s importance in regulating the survival and function of pancreatic beta cells in mice, and they say it might lead to a cure for Type 1.
Article Here