Mitochondria are responsible for making energy, providing fuel to cells and keeping them functioning. But mitochondrial abnormalities are associated with the development of disorders such as type 2, diabetes. Patients suffering from this disease are unable to produce enough insulin or use their produced insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels.
Abnormal Mitochondria in B-cells
Researchers at the University of Michigan used mice to show that dormant mitochondria trigger a response that affects the maturation and function of B-cells. Several studies have shown that the insulin-producing B-cells of diabetic patients have abnormal mitochondria and are unable to generate energy. Still, these studies were unable to explain why cells behave this way.
Muscles Affected by Diabetes
Diabetes is a multi-system disease that causes weight gain and affects your muscles. "So we wanted to look at other tissues as well," said Scott A. Soleymanpour, M.D., director of the Michigan Diabetes Research Center and senior author of the study. The team replicated their mice's experiments in liver cells and fat storage cells and saw that the same stress response was turned on. Both types of cells were unable to mature and function properly. "We haven't tested all possible cell types, but we believe our results could apply to all the different tissues affected by diabetes," Solaimanpour said.
Use of a Drug called ISRIB
Regardless of the type of cell, the researchers found that damage to mitochondria does not lead to cell death. This observation revealed the possibility that if they could reverse the damage, the cells would function normally. To do this, they used a drug called ISRIB that blocks the stress response. They found that after four weeks, the B-cells regained their ability to regulate glucose levels in mice. The team is working on further dissecting the disrupted cellular pathways and hopes they will be able to replicate their results in cell samples from diabetics.