Insulin-creating cell research may lead to better diabetes treatment
Thursday, October 28, 2010 - 14:30
in Health & Medicine
Beta cells, which make insulin in the human body, do not replicate after the age of 30, indicating that clinicians may be closer to better treating diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is caused by a loss of beta cells by auto-immunity while type 2 is due to a relative insufficiency of beta cells. Whether beta cells replicate after birth has remained an open issue, and is critically important for designing therapies for diabetes. By using radioactive carbon-14 produced by above-ground nuclear testing in the 1950s and '60s, researchers have determined that the number of beta cells remains static after age 30.