- Engineers at MIT say they have designed a device to help control type 1 diabetes with implantable islet cells.
- The device, however, has only tested on mice so far, but researchers said it did keep their glucose levels stable.
- Potential problems from using the device include diabetic ketoacidosis and fibrosis or scar formation around the device.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have created a device for people with type 1 diabetes that may help produce insulin when needed.
Their findings are being published today in The Proceeding of the National Academy of Science.
The MIT engineers reported that their implantable device can carry hundreds of thousands of insulin-producing islet cells. Previous devices made for the same purpose failed and stopped producing insulin because they ran out of oxygen needed to create the insulin.
To combat this, the scientists created an oxygen factory on the device, allowing it to generate oxygen by splitting water vapor in the body.
The researchers said the device could potentially replace insulin injections in people with type 1 diabetes.
“Currently, islet cell transplant is limited to patients with a history of severe metabolic complications and consistent failure of insulin-based therapies,” explained Dr. Caroline Messer, an endocrinologist at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in New York who was not involved in the study.
“Long-term success rates are low and patients require lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. Conceptually, implantable islet cells that do not require immune suppression and create their own source of oxygen is nothing short of brilliant,” she told Medical News Today.
The device kept glucose levels stable for at least one month when implanted into mice. So far, it has only been tested in mice.
The researchers hope to eventually create a larger version of the device and test it in people with type 1 diabetes. They expect this device to be about the size of a stick of chewing…
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