Drug Dramatically Reduces Symptoms of Diabetes in Mice

 Medicine  

Researchers have found an enzyme inhibitor found to prevent and reverse the effects of diabetes in obese mice. In addition to discovering a potential form of treatment for the disease, scientists say the study has shone new light on healthy properties of fatty acids.

According to a newly published study by led by researchers Bruce Hammock at the University of California, Davis, and Joan Clària at the University of Barcelona, diabetes may be treated and even cured. The research involves a potent enzyme inhibitor discovered by Hammock's laboratory that dramatically reduces inflammation, inflammatory pain and neuropathic pain.

In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an enzyme called soluble epoxide hydrolase, or sEH, inhibitor both prevented the onset of diabetes and reversed the effects of diabetes in obese mice.

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“Our previous studies show the drug we are working on will reduce the symptoms of diabetes in mice by itself,” Hammock said, “but the excitement about Joan Clària’s work is that if the mice have a genetically increased level of omega-3 fatty acids — the drug offers prevention or cure in mice.”

"If the mice have a genetically increased level of omega-3 fatty acids — the drug offers prevention or cure in mice."

The new drug apparently works by stabilizing metabolites of an omega-3 fatty acid called DHA. These metabolites are thought to contribute to the beneficial effects of a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids, Hammock said. Previous UC Davis research in the laboratories of Hammock, Nipavan Chiamvimonvat, Robert Weiss, Anne Knowlton and Fawaz Haj showed that the enzyme reduces or reverses such diabetes-linked medical issues as renal failure, hypertension, diabetic pain, hardening of the arteries and heart failure.

Clària is an associate professor at the Barcelona University School of Medicine and a senior consultant at the Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Service of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona.

In the paper, titled “Inhibition of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Modulates Inflammation and Autophagy in Obese Adipose Tissue and Liver: Role for Omega-3 Epoxides,” Clària described the administration of the sEH inhibitor as “a promising strategy to prevent obesity-related co-morbidities.”

Clària said the study also sheds more light on the role of sEH and omega-3 epoxides in insulin-sensitive tissues, especially the liver.


SOURCE  UC Davis

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