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Medical chemists in the US and Europe are trying to treat type 2 diabetes by targeting receptors for glucagon, a hormone that raises blood sugar levels when they get too low. They are developing molecules that they say can selectively bind to glucagon receptors. The molecules could provide a new way to keep blood glucose (sugar) levels down in people with type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adults and sometimes can be controlled with a combination of diet and exercise; people with the condition lose their sensitivity to insulin, which results in excess blood sugar.
In one study, researchers injected rats with a compound that blocked glucagon receptors. Another group of animals received a placebo injection. Fifteen minutes later, all of the animals were given glucose intravenously. The animals given a placebo wound up with two to four times the level of glucose in the blood as those given a low and high dose of the receptor blocker.
A different version of the compound was studied by researchers in Denmark. Their molecule, which was engineered to be administered orally, managed to hold glucose levels constant in rats that were injected with glucagon.
Researchers hope that this new type of treatment will provide a good alternative to currently available drugs for type 2 diabetes, which risk over-correction of blood sugar and causing too-low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) as a side effect.
Meeting of the American Chemical Society Washington, DC August, 2000
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