A NEW
HOPE.
Recent development of insulin might cause a revolutionary in the insulin therapy and also bring new hope to diabetic patient.
A lof of diabetes patients had to inject themselves with the life-saving medicine years ago. The injection of insulin is the only way for them to control the level of blood glucose. Recently, scientists are reporting a new development toward a long-sought insulin pill that could save millions the pain of daily shots.
There are always some patients with diabetes skip doses sometimes or stop taking their insulin because the injections can be painful. Unfortunately, by doing so this puts their health in danger. An estimated 347 million people globally (about 26 million in the U.S.) are living with diabetes. In the U.S., more than a quarter of these patients are taking some kind of insulin therapy. For past few years, researchers try very hard to create a new way of delivery of this therapy from a shot to a pill. Human body's digestive enzymes tends to break down food and in the same time also break down insulin before it can get to work. Futhermore, insulin doesn't get easily absorbed across the gut into the bloodstream.
Scientist packaged insulin in tiny sacs made of lipids, or fats, called liposomes, which are already used in some treatments. Then, they wrapped the liposomes in layers of protective molecules called polyelectrolytes. To help these "layersomes" get absorbed into the bloodstream, they attached folic acid, a kind of vitamin B that has been shown to help
transport liposomes across the intestinal wall into the blood. In rats, the delivery system lowered blood glucose levels almost as much as injected insulin, though the effects of the layersomes lasted longer than that of injected insulin.
However, insulin pills are still in the clinical stages.
What are the challenges?
Insulin tablet will be digested and broken down in the stomach by gastric juice if it is taken orally. Insulin is just like other protein as a natural degradable substance in our body. Not only in stomach, insulin will be broken down along the digestive tract. Gastric acid in the stomach and also the digestive enzymes are the main source that causes the breakdown of insulin. In order to overcome this problem, researchers try to determine and formulate a protective layer covering insulin tablet to prevent it from broken down too easily when passing through the digestive tract.
The next challenge is all about the uptake of insulin from the gut into the blood vessels. It would be not practical if the insulin manage to pass through the digestive tract but unable to diffuse into the blood vessels. This is very difficult because insulin is a large molecule and it cannot pass through the intestinal wall naturally.
In order to overcome both of these problems, scientists suggest that the development of an outer protective layer covering the insulin molecules using latest technology is a must. This is one of the to-do lists in order to help the transportation of insulin throughout the rough condition. The other way to overcome is to facilitate the movement of insulin molecules into the blood stream using technology. Insulin tablet formulation is a challenging and risky job for all the human mankind in this world. The price and money used in formulating insulin tablets could be a number that is unimaginable.
Exercise can improve insulin sensitivity, thus may reduce the required dose for therapy