Nanotechnology -- Key to Near-Cure for Insulinitis?

[Pro-Humanist FREELOVER]

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Insulinitis (old name: type 1 diabetes)

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Many articles have been in the news
recently regarding the following, but
as noted in my previous posts on the
topic, glucose levels above 120 are
higher than normal in humans who
don't have any High Glucose Condi-
tions.

So, since glucose levels from 121 to
199 were apparently evidenced in
mice which were using this new nano-
tized insulin, improvements in being
able to sense glucose levels -and-
respond speedily to elevations in
glucose levels would be required
in order for this to become a near-
cure in humans.

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May 17, 2013
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/260664.php
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Excerpts [with inserts, not part of
original article, included in brackets]:

...

An Injectable Nano-Network that Responds
to Glucose and Releases Insulin

Nanotechnology is a fairly new field that is
growing rapidly as scientists learn how to
manipulate matter at the atomic and mole-
cular scale to create materials with remark-
ably varied and new properties.

The nanogel that the MIT team has devel-
oped is an "injectable and acid-degradable
polymeric network" that looks and feels like
toothpaste. It contains a mixture of oppositely
charged nanoparticles that attract each other.
This keeps the gel together and stops the
nanoparticles drifting away once in the body.

To make the nanogel respond to increased
acidity, Anderson and colleagues used dextran,
a modified polysaccharide. Each nanoparticle
in the gel holds spheres of dextran loaded with
insulin and an enzyme that converts glucose
into gluconic acid.

Glucose molecules can easily enter and diffuse
through the gel. Thus when levels are high, lots
of glucose passes through the gel and triggers
release of the enzyme that converts it to glu-
conic acid. This increases acidity, which trig-
gers the release of the insulin.

...

"A single injection of the developed nano-net-
work facilitated stabilization of the blood glu-
cose levels in the normoglycemic state (<200
mg/dL) for up to 10 days," they write.

[too high, and unknown what the HbA1c lev-
els of the test mice were, but -if- the aver-
age HbA1c levels were higher than 6.5%,
that being a glucose level of 140, this nano-
tized insulin would be deficient in dealing
with glucose levels in humans with Insulinitis]

Because the nanogel is made mostly of poly-
saccharides, it is biocompatible and eventually
degrades in the body.

The team now wants to see if they can alter
the gel so it responds more quickly to changes
in glucose levels. Ideally they want it to react
at the same speed as the islet cells in the pan-
creas: they release insulin very quickly once
they sense high sugar levels.

[critical in order to prevent glucose levels above
120 and unknown -if- this could be used with-
out any hypoglycemic risks, as in humans with
Insulinitis, counter-low-glucose hormones are
also deficient, and it might be difficult to prevent
hypoglycemia if trying to respond with the exact
"right" amount of insulin when the glucose is high
enough to trigger insulin release was the only
hormone/method addressed via this new nano-
technology]

...

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Pro-Humanist FREELOVER
C.ure I.nsulinitis A.ssociation
http://prohuman.net/cureinsulinitisassociation.htm
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