New device could help control diabetes without injections
Diabetes requires an extremely precise form of daily treatment, whereby patients have to inject themselves with several doses of insulin every day.
What you need to know:
- In the new research, scientists implanted the device into a diabetic mouse and the results show that blood glucose levels were stabilised for at least a month.
- The researchers now hope to create a larger version of the device, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, that could eventually be tested in people with Type 1 diabetes.
Researchers have developed a new implantable device that could help patients with Type 1 diabetes control their blood sugar levels without requiring frequent insulin injections.
Most people with Type 1 diabetes have to monitor their blood glucose levels carefully and they require insulin injections at least once every day to manage their blood sugar.
This development follows extensive research in the field, including investigations into stem cell therapy as a potential treatment and the use of implants that include chemical reagents that can generate oxygen. While there have been significant strides in improving management and outcomes, the search for a complete breakthrough remains elusive.
The researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) believe that the device, which contains thousands of insulin-producing cells, will offer new hope to patients. Previous devices made for the same purpose failed and stopped producing insulin because they ran out of oxygen needed to create the insulin.
To combat this, the scientists created an oxygen factory on the device, allowing it to generate oxygen by splitting water vapour that’s naturally in the body. This is made possible by the use of a technology, like the one used in fuel cells. After splitting into two—one part is hydrogen, which is dispersed and the other part is oxygen, which is stored for later use. As such it works by turning water into oxygen and giving it to the cells that need it.
In the new research, scientists implanted the device into a diabetic mouse and the results show that blood glucose levels were stabilised for at least a month.
The researchers now hope to create a larger version of the device, about the size of a stick of chewing gum, that could eventually be tested in people with Type 1 diabetes.
Some peer reviewers believe that this process may take many years because it needs to be tested in larger animals first before moving on to human trials.
Daniel Anderson, a professor in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and senior author of the study, said they are optimistic that it will be possible to make living medical devices that can reside in the body and produce drugs as needed. “There are a variety of diseases where patients need to take proteins exogenously, sometimes very frequently. If we can replace the need for infusions every other week with a single implant that can act for a long time, I think that could really help a lot of patients.”
Data from the World Health Organisation show that in 2017, there were nine million people with type 1 diabetes.
