Novel Method Eyed for Normalizing Blood Sugar

A potential new method of normalizing blood sugar levels in diabetes has been discovered by U.S. researchers.

The Children's Hospital Boston team identified a cellular pathway that fails because of obesity. Artificial activation of this pathway normalized glucose levels in severely obese and diabetic mice, according to the report published online March 28 in Nature Medicine.

Previously, the researchers found that the brain, liver and fat cells of obese mice have increased stress in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which produces proteins. Obesity overwhelms the ER and causes it to malfunction. This so-called "ER stress" triggers a series of events that suppresses the body's response to insulin, making ER stress an important link between obesity and type 2 diabetes...