Liver Functioning in Treating Type-2 Diabetes

Jul, 2021 - By WMR

A new mechanism is developed by researchers to treat type-2 diabetes with liver functioning, which produces an acid to maintain glucose homeostasis.

Researchers from the University of Arizona investigated new treatment for novel prevention of type-2 diabetes in human beings. Benjamin Renquist, one of the researchers working on it said that type-2 diabetes is caused due to increase in obesity. There is a strong linkage between liver fats and diabetes. An increased amount of fats in liver leads to insulin sensitivity and also increases the incidence of diabetes. The researchers observed the evidences of excessive neurotransmitter production in liver that plays a casual role in insulin resistance.

The new research was mainly focused on inhibitory neurotransmitter of central nervous system, popularly known as Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). It is produced in liver and is operated by an enzyme called GABA transaminase. However, it is realized that when there is an excessive production of GABA, it affects the neural activity of central nervous system to the brain. It decreases the firing nerve activity of the system to the brain, which changes the outgoing signals from the brain. This mechanism initiated by liver in the body influences glucose homeostasis in blood.

The researchers confirmed the observations in the tests and approached towards preclinical tests. They looked at gene activity undertaken by GABA in type-2 diabetes patients. It was detected that the interaction between increased gene expression and insulin resistance leads to GABA production. Renquist stated that the trials are more about acknowledging liver-GABA mechanism in maintaining glucose level to treat diabetes in type-2 diabetes subjects. The trials are about moving towards the procedure of this mechanism as preventive treatment instead of adapting pre-existing drugs. Researchers claim that this liver-GABA mechanism is more sustainable as compared to the previous methods and it’s the first step towards this application.