Diabetes is a growing global health problem, affecting over half a billion people, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The modern diet rich in sugar causes the disease to climb steadily. Recently, researchers came up with an idea for an interesting way to find a cure for the disease: bats. We used Forefront and Claude to understand how flying mice can 'cure' the disease.
Fruit bats have thrived for ages on a diet high in sugar, consuming up to twice their body weight in sweet fruit every day. Despite this, they manage to lower blood sugar faster than other bat species, which eat less sweet foods, such as insects. A team of biologists tried to understand how fruit bats developed this ability to withstand high sugar loads.
Professor Nadav Ahituv, a graduate of Tel Aviv University who directs the Laboratory for the Study of the Influence of Genes on Diversity and Disease at the University of California, San Francisco, and teaching assistant Wei Gordon, in collaboration with Sayungbin Beck of Yonsi University in Korea and Martin Hamberg of Harvard, compared the DNA and cells of Jamaican fruit bats with those of large brown bats that feed on insects, and discovered key differences that help fruit bats metabolize sugar efficiently. The fruit bat's pancreas secretes more insulin and glucagon – hormones that work together to regulate blood sugar. Their DNA promotes the production of these cells to regulate blood sugar levels even after a very sweet meal. Their kidneys also have cell compositions adapted to a diet rich in sugar and water and low in salt.
These adjustments may provide new strategies for diabetes treatment. Most current treatments are based on studies done on mice, but fruit bats may serve as a better natural inspiration for this purpose due to their improved coping with high sugar intake. According to the researchers, "Nature can provide new ways to manage diabetes."
Now, the researchers plan to test whether fruit bat DNA could make the bodies of mice adapt to more efficient sugar consumption. If successful, nature's solutions to high sugar tolerance in fruit bats may one day help humans better manage blood sugar and prevent diet-related diseases, most notably diabetes.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us