A revolutionary way to treat diabetes without drugs
A promising new study, published in the "Nature Biomedical Engineering" journal, reveals the possibility of treating type 2 diabetes, without any drugs, through a unique, non-invasive, ultrasound method.
The animal study showed that just 3 minutes of focused ultrasound per day, can maintain normal blood sugar levels.
The scientific team, which included researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine, the University of California, and the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, and led by the research department at General Electric, confirmed that early human experiments are now underway, according to the New Atlas website.
Across three different animal models, the researchers demonstrated how short periods of ultrasound designed to stimulate specific sensory nerves in the liver can effectively lower insulin and glucose levels.
This technology is called peripheral focused ultrasound (pFUS) and it allows highly targeted ultrasound pulses to be directed at specific tissues that contain nerve endings.
The researchers said: "We used this technique to explore the stimulation of an area of the liver called the hepatoportal fissure, and this area contains the hepatic portal nerve plexus, which transmits information about glucose and nutrient status to the brain, but it is difficult to study because its neural structures are very small. So that they cannot be stimulated separately with the implanted electrodes."
The study said that short, targeted bursts of ultrasound in this area of the liver, succeeded in reversing the onset of hyperglycemia.
She indicated that this method has been proven effective in 3 separate animal models of diabetes, namely mice, rats and pigs.
But there are other obstacles to the widespread clinical deployment of this technique beyond just proving its success, as the use of this type of ultrasound requires trained technicians.
The researchers note that technology exists to simplify these systems in a way that patients can use at home, but that it must be developed before this treatment can be widely deployed.
Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas produces insufficient amounts of the hormone insulin, leaving blood sugar levels uncontrolled.
Type 2 diabetes can damage the kidneys, nerves, blood vessels, and heart.
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