Thaindian News

Toronto, Aug 7 (IANS) Canadian researchers have found that a hormone in the human gut could be used to lower sugar levels in diabetics.
Researchers of the Toronto General Research Institute and the University of Toronto have found in their study on a rat model that activating receptors of the cholecystokinin (CCK) peptide hormone in the gut rapidly lowers blood glucose levels.

The activation of the receptors of this hormone triggers a signal to the brain and then to the liver to lower glucose or sugar production, say researchers in their paper.

But in the same experiment, the CCK harmone failed to lower blood glucose in rodents when fed a high-fat diet for three days.

“Our findings reveal a novel role for the CCK hormone and suggest that CCK-resistance in the gut may contribute to high blood sugar levels in response to high-fat feeding in rodents,” said research leader Tony Lam, who heads the chair in Diabetes Research at the Toronto General Research Institute and University of Toronto.

“Understanding how to overcome CCK-resistance in the gut so that blood sugars can be lowered could be a novel therapeutic approach to diabetes and obesity.”

The current treatment for diabetes involves diet control, exercise, and anti-diabetic tablets or insulin injections.

Any breakthrough in diabetes treatment will be a boon for India which faces an epidemic of the disease, according to health experts.

Even in Canada which has population of just over 33 million, there are more than two million diabetics. This number is likely to reach three million by 2010. About 41,500 Canadians die each year because of diabetes which shortens life expectancy by 5 to 15 years.

The research paper has been published in the August issue of the journal Cell Metabolism.

“This paper complements our study that was published last year in Nature indicating that in the future, we may be able to design a drug to target the gut to lower glucose levels in patients with diabetes,” said Lam.