It has long been believed in the scientific community hat Type 1 diabetes occurs after a prolonged miscue by the immune system causes insulin-producing cells in the pancreas to be destroyed. Now a group of scientists have observed that immune cells aren't the only culprits in developing the disease - the nervous system also plays a pivotal role.

With Type 1 diabetes, the destruction of the islet cells in the pancreas leaves the body without insulin to regulate the metabolism of blood glucose, or sugar. The disease, which affects about 200,000 Canadians, can lead to severe complications even with daily insulin injections, including blindness, limb amputation and kidney failure.

In studies of laboratory mice specially bred to make them susceptible to Type 1 diabetes, scientists at the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Calgary discovered that a control circuit exists between insulin-producing cells and their associated sensory, or pain-related, nerves.

It turns out that this control circuit is necessary to retain the health and normal function of islet cells, said principal investigator Dr. Michael Dosch, an immunologist at Sick Kids Hospital.

"What we really have discovered is that the immune system is under much closer control by the nervous system than we thought, that this control to a large extent involves sensory nerves," said Dosch, explaining that such nerves are the same kind that signal the brain to send out pain messages when an ankle is broken or a finger is burned on a hot stove.


Posted by: Josly2006    Source

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