The way to the heart of diabetes is through your gut

Abstract

The gut is famously known for its function in food digestion and absorption, but what if we told you that it is also involved in diseases like diabetes? Diabetes is a metabolic disease, which affects over 460 million adults worldwide, where the body struggles to regulate blood glucose levels. The gut releases hormones that help control glucose levels and, when severely obese patients with type 2 diabetes undergo a bypass surgery that rearranges their gut, they see independent weight loss and glucose improvements. Although various treatments are available for patients who suffer from diabetes, there are still many unresolved questions concerning its pathology which means we are yet to find a cure. This article explores how organoids, a 3D stem cell-derived model also known as a mini-organ, might be employed to study the gut's role in diabetes. Intestinal organoids serve as an effective new model to better understand the disease, thanks to its ability in enabling the cells to arrange in a way that closely resembles the human gut. Using intestinal organoids in diabetes research could lead to new treatment options which are necessary in order to improve the lives of those whose are affected by diabetes every day.